Deserts and Desserts

Deserts? The Sahara, Gobi… pictures and films of endless stretches of sand… thirsty people looking for water… Jenny Agutter in the old film ‘Walkabout’.

Two men were lost in the desert. One of them sees a tree that’s draped in bacon. ‘It’s a bacon tree! We’re saved!’ he says. He runs to the tree and is shot. It wasn’t a bacon tree, it was a ham bush.

Desert: Dry, barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs.

I visited Annie yesterday. She’d found some baby hedgehogs in her garden. She didn’t know if they had been deserted. She’d seen an adult hedgehog in her garden but wasn’t sure…

Desert: To leave, abandon, forsake, run away…

The debate about A-level results continued yesterday; today it’s GCSE results. ‘Grade-inflation’  and ‘unprecedented’ (again!) occur repeatedly. Are students getting their just deserts… the grades they deserve?

Desert: Anything which is deserved…often referring to reward or punishment…

We went out for a meal last night with friends. After the main course we were asked: ‘Would you like to see the dessert menu?’ We were offered banoffee cheesecake, rocky-road sundae, raspberry crumble and custard…

I recall one school dinner lady who, on the dessert counter, would address the pupils with ‘sweet’ – with a smile, or ‘pudding’ – with a scowl, – as if she were assessing their character or disposition.

Dessert: Final course of a meal, pudding or other sweet item.

Musing on friends…

• … going through a desert season; life’s dry, barren and desperate; there’s no way out
• …feeling deserted, ignored, forgotten and lonely; friends and family are distant or gone.
• …not getting their deserts; bad things happening to good people; good things happening to bad people; life doesn’t seem fair

The healthy option for dessert is always fruit. St Paul said: ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’

…the dessert for those going through a desert, feeling deserted or not getting their deserts.