My organic teas on Cable TV

Today, 6th January, 2009, I had the pleasure of filming an interview for Time Warner Cable, to talk about my tea, and have a little afternoon tea with Sharon Schoenberg, Producer for SoCal News.  She was very interested in the varieties, all of which we tried out after the interview. Alan, her Cameraman is a tea fan also, and we tucked in to tea and comestibles after the segment was in the can. My dear friend Don Dale had baked some delectable pastries, blueberry muffins, and fruit bread, added to which were cookies made by Ruth, some fruits and berries, the regular cucumber sandwiches, and a beautiful array of goodies. A rattling good time was had by all. I can’t wait to see it on TV which should happen in a couple of weeks or so when they have edited it.  Sharon said we should make it an annual affair, every January, and I will hopefully be around to keep her to that!! Meantime, I am putting a cloth over the bathroom scale for a day or two.

Bye Bye Woollies, January 2009

Monday, January 9th 2009. Sadly, today sees the final closure of Woolworth’s stores.  I have many fond memories, but one that sticks in my mind is of taking Paul & Linda’s daughters, Mary McCartney and Stella McCartney to the branch on Telegraph Road in Heswall on the Wirral Peninsula in what was then known as Cheshire. That was when we lived at Rembrandt, the house that Paul bought for his father.

Sometimes, when Paul and Linda came stay, along with the children and an assortment of pets, they would need to sleep late after working in the studios into the night, and to keep the house quiet, Ruth and I would take the kids out for walks, or shopping. One day, Stella was in my arms, being carried around the store as she was too small to see the counters, kept asking me to buy her “fokkits.” I puzzled until she espied what she wanted and pointed excitedly to it. It was chocolate. (“Fokkits” to her). Thus appeased, she then wanted “peggins”. We trailed around the shop, counter after counter, asking her “is this what you want.” She kept shaking her head vigorously until she spied a counter that had children’s gloves and mittens. “Yes, yes, me want peggins” she shouted excitedly. So I bought her a little pair of woollen gloves and she was happy. To this day, Ruth and I always refer to gloves as “peggins.” I guess the now famous Fashion Designer Stella McCartney had aspirations towards the fashion world even at that early age.