Tuesday 23 May 2023

The Colonel’s Breakfast

 

The Colonel’s Breakfast

I like a gentle, quiet start to the day, with no radio or television to assault my senses.

Frequently, I am the first human to go downstairs, usually because one or more of the non-humans requires access to the great outdoors.

 I enjoy the morning stillness, the false sense of being the only one awake in the world. I like the quiet as the house stretches and comes to life and the feeling of organisation and accomplishment as little tasks are completed. I appreciate the time of the day that is entirely mine, with no expectations or requests.

 I am not a morning person, but I am no longer a night owl. I’m more of a middle-of-the-afternoon person now.

Barry and I both have a robust sense of humour, but my funny bone doesn’t work early in the day. Like most couples, we have developed a verbal shorthand and ‘the Colonel’s breakfast’ is one that we often use. It means that, although not immersed in doom and gloom, I am not ready to engage in light-hearted banter. Barry has always been able to make me laugh, but his skills are wasted first thing in the morning.

‘The Colonel’s breakfast’ arises from Barry’s time as a subaltern living in an officers’ mess with several other young officers. The colonel in question, N.P., had been an officer in the Parachute Regiment who had jumped into Arnhem in 1944 during the Second World War.

After the war he gained an Oxbridge accelerated double first (accelerated usually means two years) Many military personnel were sent to university after the war in an attempt to reintroduce them to civilian life, or to allow them to continue studies disrupted by their war-time service.

 After university and still in the army, N.P. worked on advanced technologies for the networking of radio communications, a precursor to the technologies used today for mobile networks. In the early sixties he was given command of a regiment and Barry was one of his subalterns.

 He was a gentleman who disliked being disturbed at breakfast. Any chatter was frowned upon. Breakfast was a short, informal meal and his desire for peace and quiet was acknowledged and respected, for after all, he had done his duty and done it well.

20 comments:

  1. I'm an early bird, therefore my husband gets up with Precious and me before dawn. I really don't like that I am this way. But by afternoon, I have done my work and my exercise and am done done done. I enjoyed hearing about N.P. What life must have been like during the war, I really am glad I never knew more than I read. Now that morn is going onto late afternoon for you, hear some jokes and enjoy the day.

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    1. Ha ha - thank you. I'm better than I used to be . . .

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  2. My brain doesn't really kick into gear until after breakfast. P's lively chatter over our coffee and toast just goes straight over my head.

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    1. Snap! As Barry's chat subsides so mine begins . . .

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  3. My father was one of those who, having served his country in WW2 (in his case as an RAF Mosquito pilot) had the change to go to Nottingham University to study pharmacy. (Pre-war he was an apprentice pharmacist at Boots the Chemist in Tunbridge Wells.)Dad once told me how the pattern of dinners at his Hall of Residence were rather disrupted by the ex-servicemen, who did not take well to the level of formality that the senior academics tried to impose. The academics were used to imposing their will on green eighteen year olds but this did not work on those older, students who had seen active service.
    Interesting times!
    Cheers, Gail.

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    1. I can imagine the older students' responses!
      Barry had a friend whose father was a Mosquito pilot in the far East. Mosquitoes having a wooden construction, the pilots used to jump up and down on the wings to make sure the wings hadn't been weakened by mites.
      There must be so many stories untold from those extraordinary times.

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    2. So many stories, but very few from my father who, in common with many of that generation, was extremely reluctant to talk about his wartime experiences.

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  4. What happens if an early morning person marries a spouse who is only alert after 8 PM? Either they can work different shifts and only meet up on weekends, or they can be very gentle during the spouse's Off Time of Day.

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  5. As an owl married to a lark, our marriage has morphed into a very accommodating partnership. We have known each other for a very long time! It's not compromise so much as understanding and appreciation.

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  6. I am an early bird. When my children were young, I enjoyed early morning on my front porch reading the newspaper, turning the pages quietly so as not to rouse a sleeping child or dog. Early morningor late evening are my favorite times of the day, especially outdoors. My husband has made me laugh every day we've been together. It is a marital perk. My daughter on the other hand has never been a morning person. I like the bird chatter in early morn. Have a great day.

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  7. There are lots of things I appreciate about early morning but it's not my natural time!

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  8. I am an owl and my late husband was a lark. But he wasn't really awake until after his second cup of coffee (second of three). On the other hand, when I do eventually get up, my mouth is in gear right away :D

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  9. Meant to also say that I enjoyed the background behind your morning shorthand :)

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    1. Thank you, Jenny. It just goes to show that owls and larks can make a partnership work:-)

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  10. I like my morning peaceful and quiet too, hubby-the-first used to jump out of bed whistling and chattering ready to start his day, thank goodness he didn't require breakfast Monday to Friday, he could just hop over the back fence and jog up that carpark driveway to the mess and get food there while I stayed in bed.

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  11. 'Up-and-at-'em' is all very well, but it's quite wearing . . . ;-)

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  12. I love my early mornings too. Quiet, peaceful, fresh. Just bliss. xx

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  13. Late night quiet is quite different x

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  14. No chances of The Colonel's Breakfast here at Dove Cottage, I'm afraid, as my husband starts talking the minute he gets up, only stopping when he's having a mid-afternoon nap on the sofa ... then the snoring starts :-) xxx

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