‘Feck but mackerel are a bastard fish. There’s no telling if they’re in the water or not. If they’re not coming out then there is feck all to do but pack your boat and go home but if they are there then there’s no stopping them coming and the bottom of your boat will be thick with them.’

‘And there is no feckin’ point writing a book on them. What are you going to do with the paper? Take it out on the water with you so the pages get damp as soon as you open the thing. Who here is going to stay at home, sit up in their bed and read a book about mackerel. You could do better and write a book about the world. You’ll have more to say and the more that you have to say the more people will read it.’

‘Give me the pile of paper and I’ll read it for you and tell you straight down the middle what you’ve got wrong and there will be some of that because you’re not going to get everything right about a fish. I’ll say a dead fish is like the book you’re trying to put together, slippery and gone just when you want it.’

‘Give it to me and I’ll read it and put the whole feckin’ thing back to bed.’

Well we are onto Thursday and it has been a strange week so far. Work doesn’t really impinge into these posts it but has been hovering in the back ground more than normal over the last few days. We’ll have to see what the next week or so brings.

In the meantime I am still spending time staring at my book about mackerel and thinking about defenestration. There is a temptation to try a bit of cut up technique at it and throw all the pages up in the air and see how they land before putting them back together. It needs a new beginning, middle and end and I am not sure if having the man with the black beard whispering in my ear as I go through it is going to help or hinder the process. Thoughts anyone?

In the meantime Galen and I went for a change and ate from Delifonseca for our late tea. I had to spend the early part of the evening shuffling through a parents evening becoming increasing embarrassed  as seemingly endless praise was heaped on younger daughter. Most of the teachers gave the impression that this was the child they always wanted and one of them even muttered about adoption.I was congratulated on having done such a good job and was obliged to point out that I always took the view that a ‘hands off’ approach was best and that it was nothing to do with me.

Delefonseca provided a small piece of pancetta, three chorizo sausages and a glass jar of lentils. These were all cooked together in olive oil with a piece of onion and carrot. It did for us both.

After we ate Galen had a shower and I pranced round the kitchen playing slide guitar on a wooden spoon to Duane Allman. Is there a time when a man should get too old for that sort of thing?

Music wise the Bank Holiday weekend has been dominated by the Duane Allman boxset Skydog that arrived in the post on Friday. There are only 10,000 copies and it is going for silly prices on Amazon. I was able to find it substantially cheaper on ebay. I put in a low bid and rather to my surprise three hours later it was mine. I got edition no. 21.

I first heard The Allman Brothers Band when my room mate, Neil, at Randolph Macon College played them on his cassette player. Randolph Macon is in Ashland, Virginia and I was there for five months to learn a little of the world before going to University proper back in England.

Neil must have been somewhat bemused to find himself sharing a room with someone from England and his strange musical taste. These were pre-Walkman days and I took over with me a bag of ten or so albums to keep me company. I was able to buy a cheap record player to play them on and even bought some more records whilst I was out there including Nuggets and a compilation  of songs from Ralph Records home of The Residents. I have no clear memory of the records I took with me but I suspect they will have included The Doors and Echo & the Bunnymen. I have horrible suspicion that there might have also been some Dire Straits.

Neil liked The Allman Brothers and he played them to me on his cassette player and I can remember the sound of the organ and Duane Allman’s slide guitar. I think it must have At Fillmore East the double live album which is probably their best record. Back home the record was in the racks of Penny Lane Records in Chester but I never got round to buying it.

I eventually bought it on CD and it has been a pleasure ever since. There is a lot of long hair, mutton chops, wailing guitar solos and songs that go on for twenty minutes or so. That doesn’t really do it justice. It is especially good to listen to whilst cooking when a wooden spoon or sharp knife can be brought into use as a piece of air guitar.

Duane Allman didn’t just play with The Allman Brothers and I picked up second hand two double album anthologies that attempted to bring together some of the other things that he played on with Wilson Pickett, Delaney & Bonnie, Lulu, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis to name but a few.

There is some duplication between those two anthologies and the Skydog collection but there is a whole lot of other stuff on Skydog as well including some of the stuff he did with Eric Clapton as Derek & Dominoes and hefty doses of The Allman Brothers Band.

A large part of the enjoyment is the sheer variety of music on offer, a treasure trove of southern r’nb and soul and every so often an Allman Brothers workout some of which do go on for for twenty minutes or so and cutting through it all the tight visceral sound of Duane Allman’s slide guitar.

All perfect music for opening the back doors kicking back in the sun and opening a cold bottle of beer.

It almost felt like the first day of summer so it seemed like a good day to light the barbecue.  When the sun came out it was hot enough to think about putting a pair of shorts on and getting out the flip flops.

I had bought a small leg of lamb yesterday so all that was needed was for me to butterfly it and give it a marinade of garlic, paprika and olive oil. The butterflying was easier than anticipated and was soon done with a sharp knife. It seemed a pity I could not find something to do with the bone.

To accompany the lamb we had some boiled new potatoes and the artichokes.

The artichokes were the highlight of the meal. I pulled off some of the tough outer leaves and pared back the hard skin on their stalks. The exposed flesh was then rubbed with a lemon quarter to stop it from colouring. The were steamed for about 40 minutes.

To eat them I peeled off the leaves sucking at the small nugget of flesh at the the bottom. As the leaves came off they became softer and easier to eat until all that was left could be be taken in a couple of bites.