Good old Southend indeed Wendy I can remember a time we drove there for an afternoon stroll and ended up in the middle of the carnival parade - don't ask......
It must have been the late 1970’s and we had bought a new car. We decided to take it for a drive to Southend to try it out. I think it was late summer and it was a lovely day, so we thought we’d park up when we got there, and walk along the pier. We had no idea that it was Carnival Day, but when we reached Southend, it was obvious something was happening as there were diversions and loads of people wandering about. We thought it might be a good idea to abandon our plan, as, although we had been to Southend many times before, we didn’t know all the back streets, so we took a chance and headed in the direction of the seafront, not knowing that that was the main carnival route We came out of a side turning straight into the procession ....... there we were, stuck behind a group of people on bicycles bedecked with flowers, moving at a snail’s pace, with hoards of people waving and cheering I think they thought we were some kind of support vehicle for the bicycles! It took what seemed like hours to get to the end of the seafront, there were no other side turnings to nip down, so we had to stick with those wretched bicycles. We eventually managed to find a way out and headed for home, totally exhausted without even having got out of the car We didn’t go back to Southend for some time after that.....
What a unique experience for you tho' Anne, think of the crowds cheering you on to who knew where. I'll bet you dined out on that for some time, or over tea & scones. Is it a nice place to sit out ones life?
I have some happy memories of Southend on Mud! One is the Beach, I say beach tongue in cheek. Two is the Kursal amusement park. Three is teaching one of the German Students who stayed with my wife and I in Chelmsford to pronounce the th in Southend correctly, instead of Sousend, once he mastered it he was so proud of himself he kept repeating the word over and over and over. One thing I wasn't keen on in Southend were the Jellied Eel barrows, I found the smell and look of the things revolting.
They were a staple diet when my mum was young - her dad and brothers worked at Billingsgate, so fish was their main diet. Mum used to 'jelly' them herself when I was a child. We used to go and pick a live eel from an old cold water tank at the market, It would be 'dispatched' and brought home, on the bus, wrapped in newpaper - but I have never tasted one, they still make me shudder!
I did a bit of a search of jellied eel dishes. Mutton pie, potato mash with a side of jellied eel. Then much to my delight? came across jellied moose nose. What to serve for dinner tonight? Neither of the above.
There was an eel stall in High Street Walthamstow. Live eels in a tank, which as MollyMay says dispatched and wrapped in newspaper. Never fancied them, nor the jellied version. But pie and mash, with liquor after a visit to the pub, ah well, those were the days. Now we are in Somerset, smoked eel has changed my mind about eels, very nice. Back to Southend, the Kursaal at one end and Peter Pan's Playground at the other. It's a bit unfair to say Southend on Mud, there was always plenty of sand, as most of it ended up in our sandwiches. And if you still think "on Mud" try Weston Super Mud.
I hated jellied eels and pie, mash and liquor (the only edible bit of the latter was the pastry and liquor as far as I'm concerned) - my grandparents loved them. They also loved pig's trotters and pease pudding I can remember going to a friend's house as a child to find her Mum preparing a sheep's brain at the kitchen sink . I didn't stay to dinner.
Oh and to dissect a sheeps heart in first year high school science. I was out of there. My grandfather loved pigs trotters and chicken feet
Eels, pie & mash etc seemed to be the big thingy in Sarf London, People still post about such gormet delights. I remember seeing '? stuff' in aspic in many cookery books & was so pleased to leave them there. Brains on the other hand, if prepared , crumbed & cooked by some-one else I have managed to get down. Was going to do so myself a few years back but what a soft soggy mess they were to prep. Never again. I can understand folk from years ago enjoying anything which suggested remotely 'meat' when times were very tough, not the sort of thing to pass down to later lines me thinks.
How do you -'cook' ? eat chicken's feet? I thought Chicken wings were spare, but hey feet? Sure use the whole beast & don't waste, but nah, taa.
No one has mentioned 'the Parson's Nose', a fought after delicacy by the menfolk in our house, especially the one from the Christmas turkey. Pig's trotters were my dad's favourite. Mum made brawn once, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it On the other hand stuffed hearts - yum and kidneys, liver and black pudding - all things my kids baulked at eating.
My Mum used to make the most amazing brawn. Black pudding, not an Ozzie thing by any means. Liver or lambs fry as we call it here, with onions and bacon and gravy but I can’t bring myself to prepare it anymore. You can keep your stuffed heart. Love the parsons nose.
I'd forgotten all about the Parson's Nose Kidneys and liver I love but another thing I couldn't stomach (excuse the sort-of pun) was sweetbread.....
I’m really not into meat at all these days especially beef. Chicken seems to appear on our plates a lot now and salmon.
