Sunday 4 March 2018

Snow cake


With the yellow cake tin in one hand and my satchel on my shoulder I headed off to school with my friend in the morning snow.  It was a one and a half mile walk, down the hill, past the petrol station and the grocery shop where, in Summer on the way home, we’d buy Dalek ice lollies or Sherbet Dips.  The route took us through the outskirts of town until we got to the steep steps by the railway station. That was the mental ‘Nearly There’ signpost.   Next over the zebra crossing and finally the long, uphill avenue, joining fellow pupils straggling along in groups, like small flocks of sparrows in our drab beige and brown uniforms.

The yellow cake tin came with me for ‘Home Economics’ class.  We were going to be making a Victoria Sandwich.  Caster sugar, flour and margarine had been carefully measured out the night before and packed into the tin in plastic containers, alongside two large, loose white eggs.

We were quite stoical ‘70s children, perhaps because we had quite stoical parents who’d lived through the war and had eaten cakes made with grated potatoes and sand during the rationing.  I might be wrong about the sand.  Anyway - stoical - it’s just a bit of snow, maybe some ice, you walk to school as usual.   When you get to your classroom you thaw out against a radiator before Assembly, until a teacher tells you you’ll get piles if you stay there too long.  Whatever piles are.

But we skidded as we walked through town, landing on our bums and hands. Satchel straps slipped awkwardly off shoulders and my yellow cake tin landed and overturned on the frozen white pavement as I  tried to right myself.  Twice in succession my friend, my tin and I fell like skittles on the ice.

Oh - my eggs!  As I rubbed snow off my coat I had visions of a Victoria Sandwich making itself messily inside the tin.

Round the corner by the railway station, I slipped again.  Those eggs were never going to survive, but at least the steep steps were gritted and we were Nearly There.

We got to school and leaned on the radiator, getting the hotsies in our hands - the best bit about getting cold was that intense tingling when you warmed up; it was almost worth leaving your gloves off for.  I opened my yellow cake tin to find, inevitably, the two large eggs smashed to pieces, their sticky gloopy contents covering everything else inside....

........Only they weren’t!  Not even a hairline crack.  Dropped several times, they survived every skid and fall and thud.  What were the chances?

The Victoria Sandwich turned out nicely.  As with the snow, it only lasted two days, unlike the bruises on my bum.


One last reminder of the snow (I love this song and video) - it's thawing here now

19 comments:

  1. Eggs are stronger than you think. A lot stronger.

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    1. I guess they are! Like many of us, perhaps, tougher than we look.

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  2. Great piece of writing - and a reminder of the days when schools didn't close at the first sign of a snowflake.

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    1. Thanks Rol, that means a lot.
      I know, "back in my day..." and all that!

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  3. Sounds more like Canadian weather, C, and that Victoria Sandwich looks absolutely delicious!

    I was also subjected to Home Economics classes, but the curriculum was offensive. (Hilarious in hindsight . . .) What I disdainfully remember most was being forced to learn how to make a bed with "hospital" corners. Can you believe it?

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    1. I wish I could say I baked that cake myself...
      Hospital corners! That made me laugh. Perhaps they teach kids to stuff duvets now?!
      Ours was really just cookery. I suppose Home Economics sounded fancier but really there was just a lot of cake-making going on, so not all bad!

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  4. A lovely piece of writing C. I remember many similarly chilly walks to school of my own, usually ridiculously under-dressed for the conditions. Conversely, last week whenever I left the house I piled on so many layers that I could hardly bend my arms and legs!

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    1. Thank you! You're right about being under-dressed too - our school uniform didn't include trousers and I don't think we were even allowed to wear woolly tights, so we would have been dressed in skirts, socks and shoes with just the school regulation raincoat over the top, in all weathers.
      I'm picturing you now though looking not unlike the Michelin Man all wrapped up in layers!

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  5. Really nice post this full of observations about the landmarks on the way to school and the feeling in your fingers when the warm up again after the intense cold. Remember all that well. We used to break off long weird and wonderful icicles that hung down from buildings and took them home for some reason (soon melted of course).

    I felt sure that the upshot was going to be that your eggs had become scrambled i.e. broken then cooked when you leant with your bag against the radiator. Glad the sponge turned out well though.

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    1. So glad you enjoyed it, thanks Alyson. Haha, scrambled eggs would have been brilliant, a cooked breakfast!

      Love that about your icicles. I can see the attraction, they're a wonder of nature - just a shame they have to melt.

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  6. Lovely post but... having slowly lost a small amount of weight since Christmas, and then put exactly the same amount back on in one week of snow lockdown, this post is making me hungry at a time when I must resist! And like Oscar, I can resist everything except temptation.

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    1. Ah but we need to build up an extra layer of fat to keep us warm in this weather, it's only right. At least that's what the chocolate biscuits keep telling me....

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    2. Gah! Now you've mentioned biscuits as well.... (sob)

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    3. Oops, sorry! Lettuce and green tea from now on then?

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    4. No, that's the trouble, I just can't do serious diet food. So it's an apple, a banana and a proper cup (or six) of builder's tea for me.

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    5. Diets are a bore and I don't think they work - I'm of the belief that a little bit of what you fancy does you good. The key is probably just to make sure it really is pnly a "little" bit!

      Btw, I've just put up a new post and I'm very mindful now that it centres around food. Sorry again!

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    6. I agree with you on that, a little bit of what you fancy.

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  7. Good story. Lucky those eggs remained intact and you got to reap the reward by making a cake.

    If you like Ladytron (the song suggests you do), I read they are releasing their first new LP in seven years (later in 2018).

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    1. Thanks Chris,just spotted your comment here. Many thanks too for the Ladytron tip-off, I didn't know they were back, will have to check this out. I find I really like some of their material but not all - so will certainly be interested to hear what they're up to now.

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