Those Holiday Historians

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 603, 4 March 1929, Page 5

Those Holiday Historians

Reminiscences Are Not So Popular

l do not know what X have done to deserve it, but during the last week or two I have been forced to make an unwilling study of what other people do on their holidays.

I know exactly what the weather was like last Tuesday, at Slushville, the price, colour and fit of Judy’s bathing costume, how the ginger-beer overwhelmed the sandwiches at the picnic, how much Phil has improved with his dancing, and how terribly ill you can be if you go fishing. The Macaulays of the beach have returned. You cannot escape. Volume upon volume of reminiscences is flung in your face.

“We’ve just come back. I simply must tell you. . . . The first three days it rained and we simply lived on the gramophone. Awfully stuffy people at the hotel; they didn’t like it a bit. Then it cleared up, and we had some tennis.

“I had an adorable partner, just like Ronald Colman. And my dear —-what a service. I shall never want to play with you again! Most of the time we spent just lolling on the beach. You know that stretch of sand just by the new bungalows? Well, one morning ” But I do know that stretch of sand. I am on intimate terms with every grain of it. The sand is brown. People sit on it. The wind blows it into your eyes. Children make puddings out of it. And if seven maids with seven mops were to sweep for

Pie pastry will not become sodden with the juice of the fruit if, after lining the dish, the pastry is brushed with a little beaten white of egg. Poultry should not be given much maize in hot weather; it produces over-heating and causes liver trouble. Millet is preferable, and makes an excellent evening ration mixed with wheat and a little barley.

half a year, I don’t believe that even then they’d get it clear. However, so far as holidays go, I am regarded as a hopeless ignoramus who has never left his native heath for the seaside. As a matter of fact, I took my holiday three months ago, and have been trying ever since to resume my place as a hard-working citizen. I am totally unmoved by the quality of Phil’s dancing—l’ve no use for dancing men, anyway—and if some casual friend of Monica’s has a marvellous tennis service, what is that to me? How can I get on with my work if this absurd chatter about something which somebody else did some time last week turns my mind into purely frivolous channels? Punishable Offence People who return from their holidays ought to throw a cloak of decent reserve over the happy hilarities of that time. To broadcast them to one’s friends, with the fullest circumstantial detail, with photographs, picture postcards, maps of the motoring routes and local legends, ought to be a punishable offence. Last year I went to the mountains. You take the train to Whatsit. From here there is a marvellous milway that goes right up to the top of the mountain. Well I must stop here. Frank has just looked in to tell me what he did on his holiday!

! To maintain the flavour and keep | the fruit whole, steam all small fruits iby putting in a basin, adding sugar j and a little, water and standing the j basin in water in a saucepan over the ] tire till cooked. j For sea-sickness damp a handkerchief with equal parts of nitrate of I amyl and pure alcohol; on inhaling the ' aroma all sensations of nausea will disappear.

INDIGESTION SOME DIETETIC ADVICE By ONE OF THE CURED “Indigestion” is the rather vague generic term that is applied by most people to any sort of dull, heavy pain in the region of the waistline; particularly after a meal. It is one of the commonest of the disconcerting minor ailments from which we women are prone to suffer, so a little useful study of dietetics will go far toward remedying it. At the same time it should be observed that, in cases of really severe indigestion, a careful medical diagnosis should be sought Ordinary attacks, if ignored and allowed to develop into severe dyspepsia, may induce disastrous results; at worst, fatal, and at best lifelong semiinvalidism. Wherefore it behoves the sufferer from even so-called “ordinary” indigestion to seek advice from the proper quarter if the attacks persist. Taken in the first early stages, however, matters can often be put right by strict attention to diet. At all times, only the most easily digested foods should be taken. First and foremost, since meat plays a big part in most dinner-table menus, it should be noted —and acted upon!—that mutton or lamb is infinitely more digestible than is beef or pork. Twice-cooked meat should be avoided like the proverbial plague. So should all “made” dishes. Likewise in the “verboten” category are rich sweets, pastries, highly-flavoured sauces, pickles, cheese and strong tea. And every experienced medical man will tell you, “nothing out of a frying-pan!” Substitute the grill or “dry-fryings,” as one may call the toasting process —for the fat-sodden contents of the pan that goes on top of the flame instead of beneath it.

During an actual attack, it is wise to confine the diet, for the nonce, to warm milk or milk and soda-water. As the pain abates, there may be a very gradual return to such light dietary items as boiled or steamed fish, clear soups, well-cooked milk puddings (with the exception of rice), egg custards, baked apples, and one of Nature’s most priceless cures—orange juice.

Badly-cooked food is another common cause of indigestion, while worry, needless to say, will inevitably bring on an attack in the case of predisposed indigestion sufferers. So will overwork, or anxiety of any kind. The direct result is a drastic checking of the supply of essential gastric fluid. Also and of course, there is no hope of improving the digestive faculties unless the mouth and teeth are in a thoroughly healthy condition, and proper mastication is assured. Simple bi-carbonate will often “help” the species of indigestion that comes on some time after a meal—say two hours or more. The dose is about half a small teaspoonful of the soda in a wineglassful of water, followed up by a tumblerful of plain water.