Craving
I don’t know how long I have waited at the coast. The snow comes and the cold starts creeping in. I browse through my brain data base on horrible history, and find this information that immediately causes shivering down my spine: “The winter of 1939/1940 was one of the coldest on record, with persistent cold weather from 22nd December through January. Temperatures were the lowest for at least 100 years in many parts of Europe. It is now theorized that the intense military activity in the North Sea was responsible for disturbing the sea temperature and therefore the climate. The loss of heat from the sea led to more cold air from the arctic being pulled into the European region, resulting in much colder weather overall.”* I have a jacket on but it is not enough to ward off the cold. Even though it is only October I can feel that the winter has arrived earlier. My robot time portal cannot be reset to return to my time until three days later. I cannot override its setting. I have no choice but to move myself from the coast and seek a warm shelter if any.
As I walk inland I see trees with branches laden by heavy snow! There are very few houses and none have their lights on. The roads are empty of lives. It looks as though the War’s rampaging flood has devastated the whole countryside, leaving ravaged faces of despair on nature herself. To be honest, I am a millennial who has had very secure and well provided and pampered life in my youth. My working life was comfortable too. Even when I trotted round the three continents to hunt treasure I always had reasonably good food and shelters. My folks and my employers took good care of me. The world that I have lived in has been sensible up to now. I cannot make sense when I look at the great wars. I never like them and now find myself stuck in one! And the worst thing is I have no food. I crave for a freshly cooked, warm creamy, mixed seafood Spanish chowder served in a bread trencher. Or savory and fast kedgeree- Curry, fish, eggs, and rice make for an easy, mouth-watering British take on Indian cuisine. OR ANYTHING HOT. Even a Nashville Hot featuring a perfect blend of spicy cayenne and smoke paprika!
As I stumble on I see this girl again. She seems to expect meeting me on this deserted road, “Nice seeing you again, come with me.” We enter a tiny cottage which seems to be in darkness. But I see light after we enter and the heavy wooden door closes behind us. Someone is cooking at the stone stove. It is not really a stove. It is an Indian Tandoori stove and the man is bending over the opening. I smell Tandoori chicken***. My craving is soon over as I am well fed with chicken and a bread called Naan topped with garlic and green pepper. A surprise dessert too in the form of Andes chocolate mints**. But this does not make sense. I am in France eating Indian food and a chocolate first introduced in 1950? I must be dreaming or fantasizing in my virtual world. whatever it may be, I am enjoying myself after all. (To be continued)
About this picture: I took the Indian food pictures recently in a tropical country. The winter picture was taken last winter in USA by a friend. The really heavy snow came a day after I left.
The following info is from Wikipedia:
**Andes Chocolate Mints are small rectangular candies consisting of one mint-green layer sandwiched in between two chocolate-brown layers. The candies are usually wrapped in green foil imprinted with the company’s logo. First launched in 1950, they are produced by Tootsie Roll Industries and made in Delavan, Wisconsin.
***Tandoori chicken is a dish originating in the Indian subcontinent. It is widely popular in South Asia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East and the Western world. It consists of roasted chicken prepared with yogurt and spices. The name comes from the type of cylindrical clay oven, a tandoor, in which the dish is traditionally prepared.
*winter weather passage quoted from: http://ww2today.com/a-cold-winter-arrives-in-europe
millennial strategic marketing 