I have given up bread and cheese to the great benefit of my waistline – I have lost a stone in four months – but to the infinite deprivation of one of the great pleasures of life. So, a trip to Neil’s Yard in Borough Market this morning was a form of torture: the citadel of lovers of the best and rarest of English cheese, as I am. Now I can only enjoy it vicariously and in tiny slivers which I was offered illicitly over the counter like the rarest contraband:-


Giving up cheese? I knew you were a man of steely discipline Charles, but that is a feat. I would still demand the finest gruyere even as I recovered from a triple bypass.
Dear Bendor, Yes, it’s tough ! A terrible sacrifice. Charles