Constant Craving

Published on 23 June 2007 in , , ,

One of the few reasons I continue to tolerate a lengthy commute to White City every morning, is that it gives me plenty of time to read – something I confess to rarely doing at home.

However I’m now hitting the realisation that there’s some things I should just not read in that time. For example, some months ago I was reading William Black’s excellent book, The Land That Thyme Forgot – a book all about the food we eat in Britain (or in some cases, the food that we used to eat but which is slowly dying out).

Unfortunately this had a major snag – it made me hungry every morning. So much so that one morning, his talk of sausage butties made me almost race to the café in our building. Alas the limited food sources in the dreary part of W12 which I inhabit, couldn’t help with cravings for other chapters. A trip to Tesco for a rather naff almond croissant is about the best you can do.

So much of a problem is the craving issue that I’ve refused to read any more food books on the commute, meaning that my copy of Hugh Fearlessly Eats It All is currently languishing on my bookshelf, waiting for some chance to be read.

Today, it transpired, that the issue didn’t just affect food. I’m currently reading Billy Bragg’s The Progressive Patriot and a chapter talks a great deal about Simon and Garfunkel – including the classic, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Well nothing could stop me. As the train pulled into White City, I dug out the MP3 player from my bag knowing that the walk from tube stop to the office is just long enough for a quick blast of wonderful music.

However I was to be denied. Whilst I know we have the CD of the same-titled album, for some reason, it’s completely missing from my MP3 player.

What’s worrying me here is that clearly I’m far too open to suggestion. Secondly that I can now also get cravings from songs with food stuffs mentioned somewhere (no Meatloaf for me). Mind you that’s nothing compared with the dawning realisation that for computer purposes, my MP3 player is actually called Gouda…