Mrs Finnegan’s Brighton Almanac – the importance of having an Emergency Bottle of GIN available at all times
Be wiser than other people if you can, but refrain from telling them so.
Mrs Finnegan
Advice for the hot weather
How to get rid of flies from Indoors
Take One teaspoon of brown sugar One teaspoon of cream half a teaspoon of powered black pepper Mix well together on a plate. Place the plate in a room where flies are troublesome and they will soon disappear so I have been told. I would be grateful for as MANY readers as possible to try this advice and report back on the results.
Cleaning Mirrors
There is NOTHING that will annoy a master or mistress more than a smudgy, fly splattered mirror and nothing shows up such faults better than the summer sun. Considering the expense (I have known a large plate mirror to be worth more than the house it resided in), mirrors DESERVE to be in tip-top shining condition all the time.
The VERY best method of cleaning – as recommended by London looking-glass manufacturers – is neat gin which is why I always have a bottle in my room. You never know when it will be needed for emergency mirror cleaning. (I hasten to add that I would rather have my bonnet turned inside out than step into a gin shop as depicted below. There are SOME sacrifices I will not make. )
A Summer Recipe What could be nicer on a summer’s day than calves foot jelly served cold. Here is a good recipe but you must make it the day BEFORE it is needed.
Take four calf’s feet and boil them in six quarts of water over a slow fire, whilst all the bones will come out, and HALF the water be boiled away, strain it into a stone-bowl. Put to them two or three quarts more water, and let it boil away to one. Take the whites of eight or ten eggs, just as you have jelly in quantity, (for the MORE whites you have makes your jelly the finer) and beat your whites to a froth, and put to them five or six lemons, according as they are of goodness,
Now ADD a little white wine or rhenish, mix them well together and sweeten it to your taste. Keep it stirring ALL the time whilst it boil. Take your bag and dip it in hot water, and wring it well out, then put in your jelly, and keep it shifting whilst it comes clear; THROW a lemon-peel or two into your bag as the jelly is coming off, and put in some bits of peel into your glasses. From Elizabeth Moxon’s very good book English Housewifry published in 1764 Enjoy!
Saint of the Week
St Medard patron saint of good weather, bad weather and people who work outdoors Feast Day June 8th
This is very good news – at least for myself and my neighbours in Brighton town and Hove village as June 8th was a fine, dry day. What was it like for you? I am mindful that I have readers from across the nations of the world so I will not presume you shared the same FORTUNE. (I imagine it is always a bit chilly in Regina, Canada.) Be that as it may, whatever weather occurs on St Medard’s Day will continue for 40 more days. And I can report so far, so good.
St Medard is a popular French saint who was once sheltered from the rain by an eagle which hovered over him. I’m sure the bird had the very BEST of intentions, but I’m not entirely convinced he made a very effective umbrella.
Improve your Vocabulary One Word at a Time
Matutinalcheery, active, and alert in the morning which I always am. Crumpsydour and sluggish in the morning which Master Peregrine always is (until two slices of honey cake have been CONSUMED and a full cup of hot chocolate drunk).
A Question, Dear Readers…
In all justice I should add that once my husband has broken his fast his mood lifts and he is prone to telling puns, one after the other, regardless of how often they are repeated or the unwarranted tedium of their length. Unfortunately my housekeeping duties often force me to be absent at this time of day.
It occurs to Master Peregrine that this Almanac would benefit from the occasional insertion of a humorous pun as I apparently have a tendency to visit the dark blue side of life. Out of kindness, he has volunteered to supply a quantity of puns and I believe such an excellent suggestion ought to be decided upon by you, faithful friends. Here is one if Master P’s favourites for your perusal. I am in your hands.
A canon of XXX Cathedral died a few weeks since; a gentleman, crossing the Cathedral-yard in that city, accidentally met a friend, to whom he said—”So, Canon H—— is dead!” “Indeed!” replied the other, “I was not aware that cannons went off in that way.” “Yes, they do,” rejoined the first, “for I have just heard the report!”
Dear Readers – I repeat, I am in your hands.
Mrs Finnegan still finds time to perform her duties as Housekeeper at The Regency Town House and be a devoted and dutiful wife. Her Almanac – scribbled by candlelight late at night – appears every fortnight but you don’t need to remember the date. Her dedicated staff will do that for you. All YOU have to do is enrol in the ENTIRELY free subscription service and you will be told when the ink is dry Delivery is executed by gentlemen on horseback (or by some other means).
Click HEREand you won’t run the risk of missing another instalment.
Ouch!
My children love painful puns and, even now in their wiser years, still vie with each other to come up with punful replies to each other’s quips.
Mrs Finnegan acknowledges another voice (voices) raised in favour of puns and all she can say is really, my dear? Really? Master Peregrine will be gratified.
Dear Mrs Finnegan, your kind advice about GIN was most appreciated but, as you say, you would rather turn your bonnet inside out than go into a Gin Shop, I heartily agree, and feel the same. So, where do you – a woman of Such Stature – almost A LADY – purchase such an item?
Dear Mrs Finnegan, how wonderful to read your news. I notice you are no longer so liberal with your capital letters since marriage, perhaps Mr Peregrine made his views felt on this as well? The pun is familiar: I used to work for clergy and they delighted on congratulating new Canons on ‘being fired’. A little cheerier than remarking on their deaths. I think your readership could manage the occasional pun, as long as they did not become de trop. The Summer Recipe brought to mind a memory my father shared of their cook, Mrs “Savoury” Avery (as the boys called her) boiling up calves feet for jelly. It would have been his 99th birthday last week so the remembrance was timely.
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 
I love the reserve gin idea, but not keen on that summer recipe, maybe after 13 or so gins? love the pun
Ah, calves foot jelly is perhaps not as fashionable as it once was. I note the vote in favour of Master Peregrine’s generous offer…
Ouch!
My children love painful puns and, even now in their wiser years, still vie with each other to come up with punful replies to each other’s quips.
Mrs Finnegan acknowledges another voice (voices) raised in favour of puns and all she can say is really, my dear? Really? Master Peregrine will be gratified.
Dear Mrs Finnegan, your kind advice about GIN was most appreciated but, as you say, you would rather turn your bonnet inside out than go into a Gin Shop, I heartily agree, and feel the same. So, where do you – a woman of Such Stature – almost A LADY – purchase such an item?
Sarah Tobias, I have my sources. I say no more…
Dear Mrs Finnegan, how wonderful to read your news. I notice you are no longer so liberal with your capital letters since marriage, perhaps Mr Peregrine made his views felt on this as well? The pun is familiar: I used to work for clergy and they delighted on congratulating new Canons on ‘being fired’. A little cheerier than remarking on their deaths. I think your readership could manage the occasional pun, as long as they did not become de trop. The Summer Recipe brought to mind a memory my father shared of their cook, Mrs “Savoury” Avery (as the boys called her) boiling up calves feet for jelly. It would have been his 99th birthday last week so the remembrance was timely.