Grannymar

Every morning I start my day with a small bowl of Muesli. I have suffered all my life from a ‘Dairy’ intolerance so I pour my orange juice over the cereal. On the side I have a dish with 3 apricots, 5 dates and 2 figs. This means that I have four full portions of fruit before I leave the breakfast table. At elevenses time I am usually to be found doing chores, so for my break I have something easy, quick and simple. Fast food comes into its own here.

A Banana!

I remember learning at school that bananas were the second most perfect food, milk being the first.

It is a very long time since I was at school, and the milk in those days was not attacked by all the modern additives, chemicals, procedures etc. In fact I remember from my holidays in Sligo the milk-man coming every evening straight from the dairy with the milk in large cans still warm. If I think about it for a few minutes I can actually smell it! For those who can tolerate it, I wonder how healthy milk is nowadays.

Now back to my fast food:

Bananas are available in every Supermarket or fruit and vegetable shop. All you have to do is peel and eat. The skin can be returned to the earth via the compost bin and not clutter up the landfill sites, so there is no waste. We can also do so many other things with Bananas like adding them to Smoothies, make bread, Banoffee Pie and Knickerbocker Glories to name but a few.

This morning I heard something to really make me sit up and think! A lady from Zimbabwe was interviewed on the radio. She was talking of how difficult things are there at the moment.

One Banana today costs four times the price she paid for her four bed-roomed house seven years ago.

I really savoured every bite of my elevenses this morning.

As a young girl I enjoyed walking along the waters edge of any beach dipping my toes in the water from time to time. Thoughts of finding a bottle with a message in it seemed so romantic. In those early days the beaches were on the east coast of Ireland so any hope of bottles coming ashore from some exotic sun drenched island were rather farcical. I suppose if I was to find such a bottle it would have more lightly come from over the side of the boat from Dublin to Holyhead!

Today I have a message in a bottle. In fact I have had it for a year now. I keep in safely in my fridge. The fridge is an unusual place to keep a message, but this one is special. It is more a clear plastic container than a bottle and stands about 12cms tall with a strong plastic lid. The note inside contains a photograph and personal details of the individual concerned. It was given to me by a friend.

The bottle came with a sheet of instructions and three stickers. So what is it all about? It is part of the Emergency Information Scheme. This is a voluntary scheme intended for use by any person whilst living at home. The scheme provides the Emergency Services with the vital details of any illness or allergy you may suffer from, medication you may be taking and the name of a person to be contacted in the event of you suffering a sudden illness or personal accident.