giving a loaf away

2026 · 04

Gave the neighbour a loaf this week. Handed it over the fence still warm, wrapped in a tea towel I'll get back at some point. It was only on the way back in that it hit me: this is the same neighbour who, a year and a half ago, watched me wrestle with these dense sad bricks and, over the fence, quietly put me right about what I'd been doing to the dough and the oven.

So it felt like something closing. Handing one back that was actually good. From the winter I couldn't get a loaf to rise to now, when I bake more than the two of us can get through and I'm out looking for people to take the spare.

The neighbour seemed pleased. Said it smelled like a proper bakery. A stretch, but I took it.