Wednesday 11th March 2026 – Opinions Change and First Crabs of the Season

Watching the film ‘Emily’ (biographical and fictional drama covering the adult life of Emily Brontë), the other evening, I was taken back, to a period in my school days.  This was the time, students in my school year were preparing to take their O Level examinations (those not old enough to remember O Levels, these along with CSE’s were the predecessors of GCSE’s).  At the beginning of the school year, we were presented with, Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights.  This was the book we had to read, at least twice, before providing lengthy answers (no multiply choices in those days) for the English Literature exam.  Previous years, I had struggled with the books we had to read, I found them boring and uninspiring.  In view of this, I had no aspirations whatsoever of passing the exam.  Presented with Wuthering Heights, my initial thoughts were, ‘here we go, another mind-numbing tome to wade through’.  How wrong I was, from the first few pages I was gripped by the story.  No problems reading it more than once and guess what, yes, I passed my English Literature O Level and with a good grade too. 

Over the coming years, I read Wuthering Heights several times, finishing the book with varying opinions and thoughts about the characters but still loving the story.  It was my favourite book, that was until; after moving to Overstrand, I picked up my copy to read again.  This time, I really didn’t enjoy it at all, in fact I disliked the characters so much, I gave the book to a charity shop.  Before doing so, I contemplated about all the times I had read Wuthering Heights and how, as I got older my opinions had changed.

During a break, while watching ‘Emily’, I reiterated all the above to Peter, who then suggested I read Wuthering Heights again.  I wasn’t sure at first but then thought; why not find out as to whether the story can grip me once again and how I now perceive the characters. I have now downloaded Wuthering Heights on Kindle.  It will be a little while before I make a start on the book, as I am currently making my way through a detective trilogy, solving unexplained deaths on the Norfolk Coast.  When and if I get to the end of Wuthering Heights, I’ll let you have my latest thoughts.   

In my blog for the 28^th February, I covered the launching of the fishing boat, Jayne Marie.  It didn’t take long before crabs were hauled and cooked by Andy, in the boiling shed.  After this, Holly was busy dressing them before displaying in the shops refrigerated unit.  We bought two crabs yesterday for our lunch; they were delicious.  Some crab dressers, take all the brown meat out and mash it up before replacing it in the shell and topping with the white meat but Holly leaves the brown meat whole which is a much better way of presenting them.  Today’s photo just had to be of one of our crabs; this needed no more that some brown bread and butter with a wedge of lemon to provide a perfect lunch.