I’m always a bit sniffy when I’m faced with sorbet between courses in a restaurant. It’s flavoured frozen water and I can clear my palate with gin, thank you very much. (I’m not a complete philistine, honestly.) I don’t want unnecessary faff, I want the good stuff. Don’t bore me get to the chorus is going on my headstone.
There is a place for the palate cleanser and that is the cultural one. After a week of high opera, you need a karaoke session. When you’ve raced to watch this seasons awarding winning films, the only thing you can cope with watching is 90’s teen movies. The Faculty is my movie of choice in times like this.
I’m still on my quest to read 50 books in 2018 and I managed to give myself a run of books that were light on fluff. After finishing Ben Goldacre’s fantastic I Think You’ll Find It’s A Bit More Complicated Than That, I needed something without statistics, science and epidemiology. I needed a palate cleanser. My usual choice for this would be a thriller. Loads of blood, gore and improbable coincidences and a cracking “I knew it was him!” ending. My friend Gwen favours a bonkbuster. I recommended Lace by Shirley Conran, she’s told me to check out Jilly Cooper.
I went with Lawyer For The Dog by Lee Robinson. It’s about an American lawyer who is appointed to look after the needs of a dog at the heart of a custody battle. I bought it because the dog on the cover looked like a miniature schnauzer. Yes, I have become that woman. It was exactly what I needed, short, sweet, lots of descriptions of a cute dog. It was mental sorbet and I’m ready for the next challenge.
I tend to forget that not everything is supposed to be improving or difficult. Sometimes what you need is to spend time eating biscuits reading about nice dogs being looked after by a nice lawyer who gets to flirt with the lovely vet.