| We arrived about 20 minutes before the show. The first
thing we always do is get scones.The scones come out of the ovens in the back, go to a
table to be cut, buttered, jammed (raspberry), and put into little sacks. The butter
is still melting when you get them. Yum! This is a ritual I
have been doing since the 60s. One of those things that don't change. A little stability
in the chaos of today's world. But even parts of this have changed. There used to be a
ceramic statue where the bags of scone mix are on the right, where the two counters come
together. The statue looked to be of 30s or 40s vintage. It was about three feet tall and
was of a baker with the little bags of scone mix around him.
Whenever I saw the statue of the baker I had two reactions. The
first was one of comfort and security. Here was something that had been here longer than I
have and would continue to be here when I returned again. A visual anchor. The benevolent
baker. The second response was a frisson of political correctness. The baker was black in
the tradition of the black lawn jockey.
The black baker disappeared some years ago and, even though I don't
attend the fair as often as I used to, there is always a little shock when I don't seem
him on that counter. The experience of the fair is somehow incomplete.
The scones still taste great. |
