Wednesday 29 September 2010

An apple a day

keeps the doctor away - or so the saying goes! Maybe I should have bought my husband one of these when we were in Bath - (thank you for all your good wishes, he is bruised and battered but recovering)

Don't they look delicious? Wish I'd gone in and bought one now. They made me think of a story from when I was growing up. My parents had taken me and my sister to Blackpool to see the Blackpool Illuminations. My sister is 8 years older than me and I think I was about 3 0r 4 so she would have been around 11. It was cold up there and while we were waiting for it to get dark and for the lights to be switched on we went to a fun fair. May have been on a pier or something but wherever it was my sister saw a stall selling toffee apples and wanted one. She had been moaning a bit about it being cold and generally having a pre-teen attitude (I of course was being an angelic little pre-school child - although she may tell a different story!)
She kept on about the toffee apples, all the way round and after a while it was agreed that if she was good and better behaved, and stopped going on about the toffee apples, she could have one on the way out. Finally she was allowed to go back to the stall and get her toffee apple. She handed over her money, she chose her apple from the pile. We started walking along the promenade. At which point she noticed that her apple was flat on the bottom. Not perfectly rounded like an apple should be, but where it had been dipped in caramel and turned on it's end to harden, it had obviously gone flat. She went mad. Threw the apple on the floor and made quite a scene about it not being a proper toffee apple as apples aren't flat.
The reason I remember it so well is because as a punishment, my parents took me for tea in a little tea house and she had to wait outside until she finished sulking. In my mind I can remember looking out that window and seeing her kicking her heels around and moping about in the cold while I was inside in the warm having a lovely scone and orange squash. I'm not sure, but I may have given her a few smug smiles through the window.
Funny the little things that bring back memories isn't it?

8 comments:

Sian said...

That's a great story. Here the flat bit on the bottom is called a "penny" and toffee apple makers try to get them as big as possible. It's always my favourite bit.

I'm glad the recovery is going well.

scrappyjacky said...

I bet you did give a few smug smiles,Deb.....I can remember them occuring often in my childhood...usually from my youngest brother!!!!
Glad hubby is recovering well.

Jennifer Grace said...

Lol, great story, had to read it aloud to hubby too and we both had a giggle. I'm not looking forward to when my daughter gets to teenage years - the terrible twos may be bad but at least she can't backchat too much! x

Scrappi Sandi said...

Just catching up!! Hope Hubby is feeling more comfortable now...& I love your Blackpool story!!

Rachel Brett said...

Love the story Deb, I wasn't allowed a toffee apple when I was little as my mum was a dental nurse and had seen too many rotten teeth! To this day I haven't tried one, maybe that should be on my list of things to do.....

Amy said...

oooh, she would have been wild at you! We were never allowed toffee apples either, but, we did make toffee at school when I was in Grade One and we all had to write the recipe in our own developing handwriting - Mum still has mine hidden away somewhere.

I hope the patient is recovering :-)

Maria Ontiveros said...

Oh man - caramel apples are one of my all time favorite things and a definite sign of fall!
rinda

humel said...

Fab story, and worthy of a layout I think! I'm sure you were far too angelic to smile smugly, though.... ;-)