Crumpets
JayCee’s post displaying the video of ‘The Elusive Scottish Haggis’ – a real treat and very credible – reminded me of my late brother-in-law.
Mick Burton was a Norfolk man through and through, with a splendid sense of humour and the ability to make people believe black was white. He was one of the most patient men I have ever known, a perfect foil for my late sister’s sometimes fiery temper. She once threw a bag of tomatoes at him, one by one. Every one of them missed and he gently smiled at her throughout, which exasperated her even more, until she saw the funny side. He made her laugh and that is a perfect gift in a marriage.
He had a unique way of deliberately mispronouncing words, putting the emphasis in the wrong place and making gobbledygook of the English language. When he spoke seriously, his words were chosen carefully, his vocabulary extensive and expressive. I don’t think I ever heard him curse or blaspheme. His Norfolk accent made him a pleasure to listen and talk to and his knowledge of music and literature was remarkable. He was also very blunt but somehow, hearing, ‘You’ve put it on a bit,’ or something similar, didn’t sting in the way it might from someone else’s mouth, for there was no malice in him.
One day, many decades ago now, he stopped to chat to an old lady in the village. It was early autumn, and he said, ‘It’ll soon be the start of the crumpet shooting season.’
She looked at him in surprise and said she had never heard of such a thing. Straight-faced, he said, ‘Well, my dear, how do you think the holes get there?’
‘Oh, I didn’t think of that,’ she said, and they parted ways with a smile. I’m sure she later thought about his words and realised how she’d been teased.
It is a measure of the man that when he and my sister met, at a NAAFI dance, they married three weeks later and lived a happy and fulfilling life together until she died, more than forty years later.
Lovely memories. I shall remember that next time I watch the butter melt into the holes in a crumpet!
ReplyDeleteSounds a perfect gent in every way, sadly they are a receding bred.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a wonderful addition to a family, this man. It would be an honor to know more people of such character.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to have been a rare specimen of that species called "a real gentleman". A sad loss I would imagine.
ReplyDeleteNow you have made me think of toasted crumpets oozing with melted butter and honey, dripping onto the plate.
I often targeted crumpet when I was a lad.
ReplyDeleteThis takes me in whole different direction — actual crumpets. We usually have some in the house. But Sue’s aunt lived in the US. It was only an hours or so away form us but across the border. When she visited, she was quite likely to purchase crumpets to take back home because they weren’t an American ting. I don’t know if that is still the case.
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