Interesting point about camping/vanning - you could well be right! Reckon those lamb kebabs and corn on the cob are eminently chuckable onto a portable barbecue, or doable under the grill. Mind you, our own vanning victuals (speaking as someone who yesterday came back from a 4-night trip and is about to embark on a 2-nighter) are always made up entirely of homemade frozen ready meals! Chilli noodles, stew and keema curry are amongst what we ate on board last week. The thought of ever having to peel or slice an onion on board, for instance, or cooking something from scratch, leaves me cold... Happy to steam greens and asparagus to go with, though. Tis the season, after all!
Thanks so much, Claire! You've got me thinking now - maybe a series of 'analys-list' posts is the nudge I need that will finally make me set foot in a supermarket again...! 😮🤣
Lol I’m going to save my lists for you! ✨ eeek no super markets here just small versions of grocery stores. ✨✨ sending sparkles to you for your day ahead!
LOL - I get any news I want to hear about from online sources, but I can't get through the week unless I've got access to the crosswords in the Saturday edition of the Telegraph! 🤣
I always take my reading book along. Germs, and all that. Actually, I don't think I've seen a waiting room since 2020 that even HAS newspapers any more!
I've just been watching Vera and am convinced that you are actually a detective in disguise and that Sam is under investigation. For what I can't yet determine, possibly something to do with motorbikes. My imagination is just trying to give her/him a backstory...
Thanks, Amran! In fact, I thought I was more Conan Doyle than le Carré, but I'm happy to be Cold War spy rather than Victorian detective. I'll take it! 🕵️
I am sure either of us could write a hilarious story about Mr Cummings' shopping list, Rebecca. He goes into the market to pick up three things and comes out with nine, none of which were the original three. Let's see.... Oh no ... wait a minute...that would be me.
I love a List Goddess, well done Rebecca!! Your analysis of Sam’s entire life, albeit a snapshot, are brilliant. It is a true gift to elevate the everyday into magic, in this case the wonder of the list.
I am an avid list creator and break mine into 5 sections, what I have to do at home, at work (my Substack, not my other office job), when I go into town, the computer and lastly who I need to call or text. Very cathartic making it most days.
Oh Donna, thank you so much for such lovely words!
Yay to avid listery - you're on my wavelength! I don't have a section for who I need to call or text - that's a brilliant idea! I do log when I last saw/spoke to certain people, though - that's a game-changer for keeping in touch. 😊
This engaging post confirms the fact that there are stories EVERYWHERE if we just keep our eyes open. It also confirms that you would have made an apt partner to Sherlock Holmes in the absence of Watson. I could really see the way your analytic, organized mind works. An especially beautiful description "...and a keen wind had begun to stir the fabric of the abandoned deckchairs" And who could ever forget your story of The Kitchen Page? Thanks for a jolly morning read -- I needed it.
Awww Sharron, thank you so much! I wish I'd taken a picture of those deckchairs - by the time we left the site they were blowing inside out!
I love detective work like this! And delving into someone else's shopping list is a healthier way to exercise my little grey cells than all of that true crime stuff out there...! 😮
Love this! I love the idea of you being a detective investigating someone, possibly a crime. I am an Agatha Christie fan and I love a good mystery. I do hope Sam had been finished with the list, and I also am so curious about meal 4. And, I can’t imagine a pasta dish with cilantro (coriander). 🤔 😉❤️
Awww, thanks, Amy! We SOOOOOO need to track Sam down to quiz her about meal 4, don't we? Although I have just noticed right here in the comments that a certain Mr T Freedman appears to be claiming list authorship - so maybe I'd better ask him instead? 🤣
One of your finest pieces yet. The writing itself is lovely ("For most of the afternoon the lawn had been full of families enjoying their picnics, but in the early evening sunshine all of the punters had left, and a keen wind had begun to stir the fabric of the abandoned deckchairs." is so evocative, I can see the scene even though I wasn't there, apart from the few minutes I spent there looking for my shopping list) and the flight of imagination from discovering the shopping list is wonderful. It reminds me very much of one of my writing heroes, Paul Jennings -- not the children's author but a columnist for The Observer many years ago. He would take something he came across and would go off on a complete journey of the imagination. I've tried to do that in an essay I'm writing for Inner Life (to be published next week I think). I've written about Paul Jennings here, with some extracts from his work, and I think you'll enjoy reading that: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/remembering-paul-jennings
Thank you such a lot for the compliment, Terry - it means a great deal to me. I don't know Jennings' writing, but I've just read and commented on the post of yours you'd kindly linked to, and I shall be hunting down more of his words!
Will you be linking to your Inner Life article here on Substack? #askingforafriend 👀
Rebecca, I loved this. Wow, you showed me that we can truly learn a lot about a person from one small list. Bravo and how fun...I'm on the hunt now for lists.
I wondered that too, at first glance - but then at the top it does say '4 meals'.
Yesssssssssss - oh wow, Sam, are you reading this?! You can have your list back, I promise! 🤣
LOL - yes, meal number 4 is an absolute mystery!
Interesting point about camping/vanning - you could well be right! Reckon those lamb kebabs and corn on the cob are eminently chuckable onto a portable barbecue, or doable under the grill. Mind you, our own vanning victuals (speaking as someone who yesterday came back from a 4-night trip and is about to embark on a 2-nighter) are always made up entirely of homemade frozen ready meals! Chilli noodles, stew and keema curry are amongst what we ate on board last week. The thought of ever having to peel or slice an onion on board, for instance, or cooking something from scratch, leaves me cold... Happy to steam greens and asparagus to go with, though. Tis the season, after all!
So much from so little! Bravo! 👏🏻👏🏻 Also totally here for ‘shopping cadence’—beauty in the mundane ❤️
Awww, thanks, Claire! Really had fun with this one - although I do rather feel that I should get out more...! 🤣
Only to find more abandoned lists! 💫
This is absolutely brilliant! I also read discarded shopping lists when I find them in trolleys. What pleasure! ✨✏️
Thanks so much, Claire! You've got me thinking now - maybe a series of 'analys-list' posts is the nudge I need that will finally make me set foot in a supermarket again...! 😮🤣
Lol I’m going to save my lists for you! ✨ eeek no super markets here just small versions of grocery stores. ✨✨ sending sparkles to you for your day ahead!
Ooooooh, fabulous! 🙌
I'll admit that I do make it into the Village Stores sometimes - the Saturday paper and eggs are the only things I don't get delivered! 🤣
Ahh we’ve never bought papers but since joining Substack I’m tempted!
LOL - I get any news I want to hear about from online sources, but I can't get through the week unless I've got access to the crosswords in the Saturday edition of the Telegraph! 🤣
you mean the one you cheat on?
I read only the papers in our dental surgery. Terrible news about the Archduke Ferdinand wasn't it?
I always take my reading book along. Germs, and all that. Actually, I don't think I've seen a waiting room since 2020 that even HAS newspapers any more!
I’m a sucker for life detritus analysis ❤️ a fun post, Rebecca xx
'Life detritus analysis', Jill, is such a gorgeous label for this kind of thing! 🙌
And thanks so much! 😊
I've just been watching Vera and am convinced that you are actually a detective in disguise and that Sam is under investigation. For what I can't yet determine, possibly something to do with motorbikes. My imagination is just trying to give her/him a backstory...
Oooooh yes, we need a back story for biker Sam, DEFINITELY, Prue! And LOL to detecting! 🤣
Great archival research. Have you read A Canticle for Liebowitz? An old scifi novel. A sacred relic from Saint Liebowitz is a ... grocery list!
Thanks, Mark! I'll have to check out that reference! 🙌
Your analysis would impress George Smiley himself. Well done!
Thanks, Amran! In fact, I thought I was more Conan Doyle than le Carré, but I'm happy to be Cold War spy rather than Victorian detective. I'll take it! 🕵️
I loved this. I came across a lost list recently where the first two items were Yogurt and Kale. I knew we could never be friends.
Ha! Love this. You can tell so much from the shopping cart.
🤣 LOL, Jim! Thanks so much! In contrast, I love both - I make the first, and (try to) grow the latter...!
Oh hang on, does that mean WE can't be friends? Should I delete the line above?! 😮
I could always make an exception.
My wife makes up the shopping list for me, it's always full of instructions and warnings. I'd be embarrassed to have it fall into the wrong hands.
Ahh but Jim, you know you've piqued my interest even MORE now, right?!
I am sure either of us could write a hilarious story about Mr Cummings' shopping list, Rebecca. He goes into the market to pick up three things and comes out with nine, none of which were the original three. Let's see.... Oh no ... wait a minute...that would be me.
🤣
Never tried Kale. Tried Yogurt and it was disgusting. 🤣
🤣
I love a List Goddess, well done Rebecca!! Your analysis of Sam’s entire life, albeit a snapshot, are brilliant. It is a true gift to elevate the everyday into magic, in this case the wonder of the list.
I am an avid list creator and break mine into 5 sections, what I have to do at home, at work (my Substack, not my other office job), when I go into town, the computer and lastly who I need to call or text. Very cathartic making it most days.
Oh Donna, thank you so much for such lovely words!
Yay to avid listery - you're on my wavelength! I don't have a section for who I need to call or text - that's a brilliant idea! I do log when I last saw/spoke to certain people, though - that's a game-changer for keeping in touch. 😊
Hey I love the idea swap - logging the last time we were in contact. I’m sure that’s very enlightening so will adopt that habit. Thanks!
😊
This engaging post confirms the fact that there are stories EVERYWHERE if we just keep our eyes open. It also confirms that you would have made an apt partner to Sherlock Holmes in the absence of Watson. I could really see the way your analytic, organized mind works. An especially beautiful description "...and a keen wind had begun to stir the fabric of the abandoned deckchairs" And who could ever forget your story of The Kitchen Page? Thanks for a jolly morning read -- I needed it.
Awww Sharron, thank you so much! I wish I'd taken a picture of those deckchairs - by the time we left the site they were blowing inside out!
I love detective work like this! And delving into someone else's shopping list is a healthier way to exercise my little grey cells than all of that true crime stuff out there...! 😮
I should have matched you with Poirot rather than Holmes...
🤣
I wondered what had happened to my list. Please send it back.
Sam? Is it really you?
What DID you have planned for meal 4? As you can see from most of the other comments, we all need to know!!!!
#4 is our fasting meal, following all those kebabs and stuff
Love this! I love the idea of you being a detective investigating someone, possibly a crime. I am an Agatha Christie fan and I love a good mystery. I do hope Sam had been finished with the list, and I also am so curious about meal 4. And, I can’t imagine a pasta dish with cilantro (coriander). 🤔 😉❤️
Awww, thanks, Amy! We SOOOOOO need to track Sam down to quiz her about meal 4, don't we? Although I have just noticed right here in the comments that a certain Mr T Freedman appears to be claiming list authorship - so maybe I'd better ask him instead? 🤣
The name is Lord Tel
I think not. There would have been cat food and a fuzzy toy on a string had it been Lord Tel's list.
You're SO RIGHT, Sharron! You're pretty good at this detection lark yourself - we could team up to star in our own miniseries: Bassano & Holden!
Terry, you've been RUMBLED! Sam is NOT you, and you are NOT Sam... 🤣
What a delightful newsletter!!! It combines two of my loves: food and a detective mystery!! Thank you!!
That's ever so kind of you, Sue - thank you! I really enjoyed unravelling the list that 'Sam' had kindly left for my attention! 😊
One of your finest pieces yet. The writing itself is lovely ("For most of the afternoon the lawn had been full of families enjoying their picnics, but in the early evening sunshine all of the punters had left, and a keen wind had begun to stir the fabric of the abandoned deckchairs." is so evocative, I can see the scene even though I wasn't there, apart from the few minutes I spent there looking for my shopping list) and the flight of imagination from discovering the shopping list is wonderful. It reminds me very much of one of my writing heroes, Paul Jennings -- not the children's author but a columnist for The Observer many years ago. He would take something he came across and would go off on a complete journey of the imagination. I've tried to do that in an essay I'm writing for Inner Life (to be published next week I think). I've written about Paul Jennings here, with some extracts from his work, and I think you'll enjoy reading that: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/remembering-paul-jennings
Thank you such a lot for the compliment, Terry - it means a great deal to me. I don't know Jennings' writing, but I've just read and commented on the post of yours you'd kindly linked to, and I shall be hunting down more of his words!
Will you be linking to your Inner Life article here on Substack? #askingforafriend 👀
Will cross post it. My article isn't related to yours, but some similarities of style
Rebecca, I loved this. Wow, you showed me that we can truly learn a lot about a person from one small list. Bravo and how fun...I'm on the hunt now for lists.
Aww, thanks, Julie! I really enjoyed this!!!
Another terrific read. Thanks so much.
You're so kind, Beth - thank you so much for reading! 😊