Breakfast the Eighty-Ninth

Strawberry, raspberry and banana smoothie. (Home-made.)

I had supper with the Mama this evening. Always delicious. And plentiful. I am now about three stone heavier, and edging ever closer to the early onset of Type 2 Diabetes.

For someone who severely curtailed my sugar intake as child, she certainly is making up for it now. This evening's fix came in the form of chocolate fairy cakes with peanut butter cream-cheese icing. Yum!

So desperate was I for sugar as a child that I used to sneak into the pantry and eat hundreds and thousands (that's sprinkles for you Americans) straight out of the box. I also used to eat my Dad's tooth-brushing power -- apparently even saccharin suited me.

Now that I think about it, I can't imagine where he bought this tooth powder from. Surely no one has sold anything like this since about 1894. It was probably some tremendously toxic confection that had been lurking at the back of a cupboard for 100 years.  (I can always rely on my Father to be making use of things the Edwardians would have considered outmoded.) I remember it came in a round container and to use it you dabbed a wet toothbrush (or pre-licked finger) in...