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Traditionally the family sat around for a meal of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, lamb, with mint sauce, pork and apple sauce or a fat roast chicken with sage and onion stuffing. There would be rich gravy made from the meat or chicken juices, roast potatoes and mash. The vegetables would include overcooked carrots and cabbage, mashed with butter and white pepper. The main course would be followed by a substantial pudding such as apple pie, or steamed sponge with custard. There would be plenty of chat and laughter followed by a ‘nice cup of tea’ and then some gardening, outdoor games or perhaps a family walk.

Nowadays the Sunday roast is usually pub based. The nicer meals are found at village pubs, where they try to emulate the traditional family roast by providing similar. Unfortunately the neat servings of piping hot food have that slightly shiny flavour of microwave. Families can sit around and chat, albeit more generally and self consciously than normal, because of the awareness that they aren’t in the privacy of their own home.

Then there are the huge brewery chains that offer ‘traditional Sunday roasts’ as part of a carvery,in a ‘child friendly’ environment. This means that they have an indoor and outdoor play area and high chairs. Families can choose from a selection of roast meat, vegetables, potatoes and gravy, from the servery where the food is kept hot for so long so that it tastes of biscuit.

Children don’t want to sit around talking to the parents when they could be playing in the designated areas, especially as they have usually had a fizzy drink and are spinning off the walls. The non-driving parent/partner/family friend takes advantage of the fact that the kids are occupied and they are in a pub, and gets sloshed while the other gets more annoyed because they can’t. By the time they are ready to go the kids have to be dragged away protesting so both parents get furious with them as well as each other. The rest of the day is spent recovering from the effects of the meal, whether fizzy, alcoholic or resentful.

I watched a couple of teenagers asking questions and trying to be facetious to a man selling poppies.

“What’s the use of a plastic flower?” they asked.

”It’s to remind us of all those that gave their lives in the war,” he replied.

“So how’s a plastic flower going to do that?”

“The poppy is a symbol. The red is the blood they shed and the flower for how fragile life is.”

“And the plastic for what a crappy idea it is’ one of the boys said.

“Some of them were younger than you. They went to war believing that they would fight for their country and come back, but they drowned in ditches, covered in mud or got shot as they ran towards the enemy. They couldn’t back out; those that did were shot as deserters.”

“Well it was a long time ago mate. Move on,” one boy said. But the other put fifty pence in and took a poppy.

”You’re not going to wear a flower? ‘the other asked incredulously.

“Why not? It’s not much to ask really,” the other one replied and put it in his buttonhole.

The poppy seller looked as though he could kiss him while the other boy sighed, shook his head but then put ten pence in the tin.

‘I don’t want one’ he said gruffly when the man offered a poppy.

“Thank you,” the seller said.

“No, it’s thank them really,” the boy said. “But I’m still not wearing a bloody flower.”

Guy Fawkes, the member of a group of conspirators who planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament who was caught with 36 barrels of gunpowder underneath the House of Lords. Early days of terrorism.

He wasn’t the leader of the conspiracy, just the one that got caught. Yet to this day his name is the one everyone remembers while few people know the name Robert Catesby – the ringleader. Typical of many work situations, the troublemaker is the last to get the blame, while some poor sap gets the lot.

When it was clear that innocent people would be hurt some of the plotters started having second thoughts. How many of the 36 barrels of gunpowder were stashed before it dawned on them that people might be hurt?

One of the conspirators sent an anonymous letter to his friend Lord Monteagle, warning him to stay away from Parliament on November 5th. ‘Dear friend, be afraid, be very afraid…..’ The warning letter was leaked to the King… bummer!

The King had been saved and everybody celebrated by lighting bonfires of celebration, which over the years became a ritual that included fireworks to commemorate gunpowder. Nowadays nobody is sure whether they are celebrating Fawkes’ execution, his daring in trying to do away with the government or the beauty of fireworks .

A popular ritual was to make a stuffed effigy of Guy Fawkes, to burn on the bonfire. Nowadays the fun is deciding who the stuffed effigy will represent. Suggestions welcome.

The common cold is prevalent in Britain all year but there are probably more cases between October and March. Apparently an untreated cold will last seven days, but with treatment it will last a week .

Through the ages, people have sworn by various cold cures.

Disclaimer:- Try them at your own risk.

The Victorians used to place hot, turpentine dampened cloths on their chests. Let’s hope they didn’t then lie next to a roaring fire.

Many people eat oranges because they contain vitamin C. Clove spiked oranges or lemons were thought to ward off germs, (more important in those days, because germs could be a cold, or the bubonic plague!)

Spread goose grease on brown paper and wear it, grease down, on your chest. Wear a thick vest and an old shirt on top. You won’t get lucky but you might get better.

Chewing pieces of raw onion will help alleviate the symptoms and make sure everyone else stays far enough away not to catch it.

Another remedy suggests putting a clove of garlic between your teeth and your cheek, on either side of your mouth, and bearing it for as long as possible. Change your garlic each time and don’t lend used garlic to anyone else.

Soak your feet in hot water with half a cup of mustard powder for half an hour.
Who knows why.

Mix 4 parts of flour, 1 part of mustard and add water to make it into a thick paste. Rub some warm baby oil on your chest and spread paste on top. Tie long strips of cotton or muslin around your torso, underneath old clothes to ensure the paste remains in place. Nobody is likely to lick it off you so make sure you have a wallpaper scraper nearby, for when it sets.

A well-known cold remedy is chicken broth because it is supposed to contain something that reduces inflammation and mucus production. The vegetarian alternative, cheese and onion soup, does not have the same properties. Who would buy a book entitled ‘Cheese and Onion Soup for the Soul?’