The early morning sun was still struggling to rise above the horizon when the first arrivals came in, demanding their immediate coffee fix.They sat down to natter,
remembering no doubt the previous year´s end-of-term session when Yves had arrived on crutches, for some long-forgotten reason,
and Janet had departed in a reboque truck.
No such drama this year but, even so, it took a lot of prodding to stop the nattering and to set up the Starter photo. The only one ready for the first shot was Sascha:-
but, eventually, we got there.
Present, from the back:- Chris, Paul, Rod, JohnH, Yves, Myriam, Ingrid, Dina, Hazel, Antje, Jill, Terry, Maria.
And Sascha and Java on parade, too. There were also four other genuineTilley hats besides the three in the photo.
The walk was uneventful, along the well-known Torre e Cercas tracks.
The Track
The statistics (for what they are worth, the main interest of the day being the breakfast):-
Distance: 6.99 kms. Total time: 2 hours 7 mins. Moving time: 1 hour 44 mins.
Average moving speed: 3.4 kph. Ascent: 171 metres.
Tilley co-efficient: 54 percent, or 62 per cent under Aussie Rules.
A garden tree seemed to be of interest to some.
When we arrived at the cross-roads for the first time, the two designated cooks left us and headed back to tend their hotplates.
Later on, Ingrid paused to take a lengthy swig from her bottle, which attracted speculative glances
Ingrid with bottle
while the Leader sat patiently.
Back to base in just over the two hour mark, to be greeted by that most welcoming of home-coming odours, frying bacon.
And so to breakfast.
I have scoured the works of APAPS´ two patron philosophers for their thoughts about this defining moment of the day, to little effect. Aristotle pays it no attention although, of course, his mantra was μηδὲν ἄγαν (nothing too much.)
Confucious, likewise, ignores it, while still having a lot to say about food. For instance:- “harmony and blending of dishes is important in a meal”; “eat only until seven tenths full – control of portions promotes longevity”; “food and friends are inseparable parts of life”; “you need not limit drinking, but do not drink to the point of confusion.”
But then, when I was short of inspiration on the subject, Paul pointed me in the direction of St Thomas Aquinas. Now, this hair-shirted worthy´s writings are not among my normal bedside reading, I have to confess, so I was intrigued to see what he would have to say. But what I found was not at first at all encouraging. Thomas Aquinas was something of a guru to the Europeans of the Middle Ages and it seems that they largely eschewed breakfast, because, in his Summa Theologica, he had listed praepropere—eating too soon—as one of the ways to commit the deadly sin of gluttony; the eating of a morning meal, following that logic, was generally considered to be an affront against God and the self. This was all beginning to look to me like another like a dead-end. I didn´t want to have to rely again on the familiar Somerset Maugham quotation about three English breakfasts a day being the only way to eat well in England.
But then I found that there were some exceptions to those Middle Ages prohibitions. Labourers were allowed a breakfast—they needed the calories for their morning exertions—as were the elderly, the infirm, and children. I am sure that, as APAPS and perhaps WAGS, we can be included in the labourer/elderly category as being extra-calory-entitled. And, besides, since we exert ourselves by walking beforehand, then surely the sainted Tom would admit that the APAPS are doubly justified in partaking of a post-perambulatory repast and pronounce his benediction.
So, after swilling down our choice of Tomato Juice Specials or Buck´s Fizz, we could, with a clear conscience and without fear of gluttony, attack what our two splendid cooks had laid on for us. Luckily, Yves (when he could stop from fooling around with flowers and bouncing rubber eggs) ……………………
“Our two splendid cooks”
And this is what we were offered – not just a feast for the eyes, but great scoff.
And the Punters seemd happy enough.
Ingrid with another bottle
There was tea service for the afficionados,
while JohnH had fun pouring the Buck´s Fizzes, once he had managed to stop the fizz exploding on uncorking the bottle. Apparently the secret to keeping the bubbles in the bottle is, according to the Whittles, to stick a finger up the bottom………………
………….of the bottle.
This will require some practice. How one does the thing with the finger while at the same time holding the bottle securely and easing the cork out of it, I don´t yet know. Well, I have a year to work on it.
There were sideshows to the eating and drinking, of course.. Myriam and Rod seemd to be getting on quite well
until she suddenly tried to strangle him
with one of the prize metre-long beans which Hazel was trying to sell.
Then the Paul Visme T-shirt Boutique made its appearance in a side room -
and potential customers had their measurements taken, JohnH even being forcibly stripped by an enthusiastic salesgirl in the process. No photo of that available, thank goodness.
But just to remind you of the great value you will get for your money, here is the special product proudly modelled by the creative artist for the camera man.
Place your orders now.
But to return to that philosophical question of when does good eating over-step the mark and become gluttony, let us just consider for a moment a list (from Wikepedia) of some of the foods that may be included in a full breakfast:-
- “eggs; fried, scrambled or poached
- fried or grilled bacon, also referred to as "rashers" or "slices"
- sausages or sausage patties
- white pudding
- black pudding
- kidneys, grilled or fried
- potato, either sautéed or served as chips, potato waffles, potato bread, potato cake, or hash browns
- bread, usually toasted or fried
- soda bread (common in Ireland, and available in both white and brown varieties)
- pancakes
- baked beans
- fried mushrooms
- fried, grilled, or tinned tomatoes
- fried haggis (in Scotland)
- oatcakes (in Scotland)
- fruit pudding (in Scotland)
- potato (or "tattie") scones (in Scotland and Ireland)
- sliced sausage, also known as Lorne sausage (in Scotland)
- Spam, often fried in slices (in the UK)
- laverbread (in Wales)
- grilled smoked mackerel/kippers
- cockles (in Wales)
- hog's pudding (in Cornwall and Devon)”
As you can see, our breakfast selctions are comparatively modest; we can safely acquit ourselves of any charge of gluttony. “Spam” ugh ! Although I do rather like the idea of kidneys (devilled preferably) and fried haggis for next year.
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Well, that´s APAPS for another season.Thanks for your attendance and, especially at this closing breakfast, for your contributions in kind and in cash, Hazel´s Bombeiros Fund has benefited by some Euros 82 as a result.
(Photo credits: Antje, Hazel, JohnH, Myriam, Paul, Yves)
Stop Press
For his particularly super photos, the pictorial sub-committee have just awarded Yves the Distinguished Insignia of the French Army Knife.
And, to close, a song in praise of sparkling wine. Right click on this link
for “Viva Il Vino Spumeggiante”
(Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana: Jonas Kaufman.)
