A Sad Day

I woke up feeling like death... a splitting headache and a cough. Although I can work from home, I decided that my 1st sick day was appropriate. On checking my email (bad move), the press officer from work wanted to speak to me... and that took up a little time...there's no escaping.

Although my deathbed was preferable, I decided to get a wee bit fresh air and walk down to Daniel's Swiss Bakery. Daniel is always a cheery face...."How are you?" he asked and I told him, sounding like an old person at a bus stop complaining about multitudinous ailments. I asked the same and was really saddened by his response.

Daniel has been Scottish baker of the year, with his amazing artisan bread. Yet his location has been insufficient to support the business and he's closed on Xmas Eve for good. 

Him and his wife Sandra have become pretty special to us over the last year. They're always so cheery and welcoming, and their produce is amazing...so good that they supply The Balmoral. Daniel's zopf bread is simply the best bread on earth, enriched with eggs and butter. His leither is chewy and ohh so crispy. Rosemary and her mum love the almond croissants. 

People like Daniel and his wife are my stars of my world. They produce something with love, with skill, using top quality ingredients and traditional methods and give pleasure to a great many people as a result. Even when I was a totally skint Ph.D. student in Canterbury I'd not scrimp on good quality food. It's very special to have a connection with people that produce our food, which does not exist if we always buy from big multi-nationals. 

Rosemary was really upset when she came home too...I know there's a disaster happening in Syria and everything should be viewed in context. However, if we loose people like Daniel's business, then we loose the links that hold caring, sharing societies together. He and his wife have obviously had a tough time with great worry and we're so sad to lose them from our little world.