The Most Important Meal Of The Day

Well, that’s what I was always told as a child. I know that many people don’t eat breakfast but I can’t leave home without having something to eat in the morning. Even when I was a shift worker catching a train to work before 6am I still made time for a couple of slices of toast and a cup of tea or coffee.

Weekend breakfast was something to be lingered over when I was growing up. Mum would cook us bacon and eggs and we’d sit talking at the table going through two or even three pots of tea before she would notice the time and say she must put the roast in the oven. (We always had roast lamb for our main meal on Sundays in those days.) It was mainly at breakfast time that we heard the stories of mum’s younger days, the places she had lived and the pets she’d had.

During our working years David and I rarely had time to sit down to a cooked breakfast. He liked cereal in the mornings and I usually opted for toast. David also liked Vegemite but the less said about that the better. I can’t stand the stuff. When we had more time we’d still enjoy an egg for breakfast, scrambled, fried or boiled and even occasionally poached. We liked porridge too but not washing the pot afterwards so instant porridge sachets were our preferred way of eating it. On the rare occasions that I remembered when it was and had time to cook them we’d have pancakes for Shrove Tuesday.

I like having a proper breakfast when I’m travelling. A full English breakfast will keep you going for hours. We loved breakfast on board the ship when we were cruising. Sometimes we went to the buffet where we usually lined up at the egg station for fried or scrambled eggs but we might also get cereal, croissants, or fruit and yoghurt. Not all at the same meal I hasten to add although we saw plenty of people piling their plates up like it was going to be their last meal ever. We loved how the waiters would remember our preferences in drinks and come by with that second cup of tea at just the right time. Sometimes, to avoid queuing we’d go to the main dining room and be spoiled with table service.

Breakfast on trains used to be fun too. I loved getting breakfast on “The Overland” train between Adelaide and Melbourne. As railway employees we got free passes so we could go to the first class lounge where we’d get cereal and toast and always a free newspaper. The staff used to spoil us because they all knew David. If we were travelling on an overnight train interstate we’d go to the cafeteria car for breakfast. I loved to sit there enjoying breakfast while we trundled through the countryside or stopped at some large station like Albury if we were travelling between Melbourne and Sydney. On the weekend steam train trips we did breakfast was sometimes put on by a local group like the CWA, Lions or local fire brigade volunteers. They would get a donation and we’d get a big cooked breakfast, sometimes BBQ style and sometimes in a hall. I can still remember some of those meals.

These days I have more time for breakfast except on the odd days when I go out. My preferred breakfast when I’m on my own is raisin toast or crumpets or maybe scrambled eggs but when Naomi is here I’ll do bacon and eggs for both of us too.