Cakes rule takes the biscuit
WHENEVER life's particularly drear, difficult or downright ridiculous, my family know that I'm going to say: “Let's just drive to Scotland”.Perhaps we'll be en route for Sainsbury's with an empty fridge, no list, no ideas and threepence-halfpenny.
WHENEVER life's particularly drear, difficult or downright ridiculous, my family know that I'm going to say: “Let's just drive to Scotland”.
Perhaps we'll be en route for Sainsbury's with an empty fridge, no list, no ideas and threepence-halfpenny.
Or, as this week, when we pick up from the doormat ever-huger annual bills from Anglian Water and for council tax.
My fantasy is that we ignore it all, pile into the car without hesitation and head due north, eventually arriving at some remote
Highland bothy where we
spend the rest of our lives,
Most Read
- 1 Norfolk singer's big hopes for her girl band's debut single
- 2 Man died on 50th birthday at Norfolk coastal campsite
- 3 First coastal road marathon in three decades hailed 'magnificent' success
- 4 Mammoth Marathon winner says course was 'one of the hardest'
- 5 'Everything has gone up' - How mum Melanie is dealing with cost of living
- 6 Man swims for survival after speedboat sinks off Norfolk coast
- 7 Six beaches in Norfolk awarded Blue Flag status for 2022
- 8 North Norfolk hotel named among most romantic and best small stays in UK
- 9 'Rainbow of rhodies' puts on stunning display at Sheringham Park
- 10 Travel: Stay on the UK's first floating glamping pod...in Beccles
away from 21st-century
stresses.
I had a silent such moment recently while talking to a
couple in a north Norfolk care home for elderly people.
All was going well until they mentioned the party their resident relative would be having at the home to mark her birthday.
“Whose baking the cake?” I asked. “Oh, we're not allowed to bring homemade cakes into the home. They have to be bought ones, for health and safety reasons,” they said.
It was at that moment that I heard the siren skirl of bagpipes and the beckoning wind through the heather.
What madness is this? How many care homes in north Norfolk impose this rule? Are they all being forced to comply with some ridiculous regulation or have just one or two of them decided to play ultra-safe at the expense of common humanity and common sense?
Spending one's final years in an institution - albeit run by the most caring people - must make
home comforts especially appreciated.
Homemade birthday cakes, with their uneven sponges, dips in the middle, icing drips, that great, authentic taste, and the knowledge that someone gave their time and love to the endeavour, make the memories which make a happy life.
I can't believe that any home would deny an elderly person such a simple pleasure.
Do other local care homes include this in their house rules? I'd be intrigued to hear of further instances and whether you think it's justified.
