I was born in the '60s and grew up in the '70s - not exactly the best decade for food in British history. It was horrendous. It was a time when as a nation we excelled in art and music and acting and photography and fashion - all creative skills... all apart from cooking.
Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice aware of the fullness of your won presence rather than of the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement.
