November 1999

“Coley what?” was my immediate reaction. Imagine trying to understand what something was when you’d never heard of it and being told it by a Scottish person. Phonetically Dr Bond replied “Colley Fash. Ye can buy it from ye suppermarket. Ats a what fash a bat like cord”. In reality his accent wasn’t that strong but when you’ve not heard something before you find yourself straining to hear and understand. Slowly the confusion cleared. Coley is a kind of white fish a bit like Cod and we should find it at supermarkets…the Iceland supermarket especially apparently. It was something that Jemima would never have eaten before and would not be allergic to it.

So we left Dr Bond that day with hope. We were on the road to find out what Jemimas problem was finally and the money didn’t seem to matter anymore, to me at least. Christine and I went to our local Iceland, scoured the frozen isles, and there it was! Colley Fash! We bought half a dozen frozen packets as well as the ubiquitous chicken and rice. Returning home we started right away and put the fish on to boil. What a stink boiled fish makes! Still it was bearable with the back door open and the nose covered up.

So Jemima lived on Coley, Chicken and Rice for two whole weeks. She loved it. She had two personal chefs cooking her 4 small meals a day and tasty fashy ones too. Fash. Ever since that first meeting with Dr Ross Bond fish has been “fash” to me – saying it always makes me smile as does seeing it in the frozen fish section. I’ve never tasted Coley but I knew a girl that loved it.