Sunday 28 August 2011

non-definitive soup list

For my first blog post, it would probably be wise to avoid tackling any sensitive issues. I’ve been advised that there is no need to stir things up, no need to court controversy just for the sake of it. It’s all too easy to offend certain sensibilities and one has to be careful not to alienate the audience, even if that audience, in this case, is essentially me, proof-reading this thing, plus some guy in Milton Keynes who bought one of my CDs in 2003. “Keep to the middle of the road”, I was told by a blogging friend “and try not to frighten the horses.”

So, rather than court controversy by going into the lurid details of why I have just been expelled from the West of Scotland branch of the Nazi Sex-Party Association for so-called ‘inappropriate behaviour’, I’m going to kick off with soup.

Everyone has got an opinion on soup, but you don’t ever see folk arguing or fighting about it. Well … apart from that time at my cousin’s wedding when, after what came to be known as ‘the cock-a-leekie incident’, the riot police were called, several arrests were made and a report was sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

I’m currently working on my end-of-the-year list of favourite soups. Given that it is only August, this obviously isn't the final draft. Who knows what will happen between now and December, but the current top five (in no particular order) are:

Carrot and Coriander
Mexican Chilli Bean
Lentil
Tomato and Basil
Minestrone

I have to say, now that I’ve seen the ‘soup list’ set out in all its glory, I’m inclined to think that perhaps there’s a better balance to be had between ‘controversial-for-the-sake-of-it’ and ‘depressingly-pointless-in-an-existential-sense’.

I may post an update once I've given this some more thought.