Monday evening - and a bit of nostalgic reminiscing.

Two long words, but I think I've spelled them correctly!

I was reading Diane's lovely blog, Good Morning, Early Readers, when what she said sparked a childhood memory.  She was talking about the pork crackling she made yesterday.

When we were little, me and my brothers, we often had bacon for breakfast in the 1950s and early 1960s.  It was proper bacon, streaky bacon, farm bacon with none of that white water rubbish, the rind still on and I remember it as absolutely delicious.  Mum always cut the rind off and, after breakfast was cooked and we were munching and enjoying, she put the rind back in the pan to crisp.  We called it 'crackle' and it was our favourite part of the meal. Somehow it always 'crackled', it never went chewy, it was always crunchy (selective memory here?).  We (including Dad) were known to fight over the last bit of Mum's crackle.  And the fat that came off it while it was crackling must have been so useful for other dishes with all that bacon flavour.

I haven't thought of crackle for absolutely ages.  In fact, can you now buy bacon with the rind still on?  I haven't seen any for quite a while although maybe I am not looking in the right places.

Isn't it fantastic how happy childhood memories can make one feel so good.  I am sitting here at my PC after a long and busy day, brimming over with goodwill and contentment, just because I remembered our childhood crackle.

Some memories are not so happy, some are wonderful, some go back a very long way, some are much more recent but, you know, I embrace them all because they are all a part of my personal history, they make me what I am now.  Good or not so good, I wouldn't be without them.  Not now, at the age of coming up elderly.

Here's to memories!