The Brawn Sandwiches

from the reflection series

My mother was very good at stretching the little bit of money she had for bringing up a family of five. Every so often she would send me down to the local butcher to ask for a whole pig’s head, with orders not to allow the butcher to charge more than a few shillings! She was well known in the village and the shopkeepers looked after her whenever she was broke. The butcher would loosely wrap the pig’s head in some meat paper and then into a carrier bag. Being the child that had to explore things, I had fun with the pig’s head on the walk back home.