Apostrophal Tails

While she shopped, my mother used to leave me outside Mackay's the baker in Edinburgh's Comely Bank. The shop's name was displayed, red on a brown background, just below the window display of iced biscuits, pan loaves and sausage rolls. The apostrophe in MACKAY'S was loose and it gave me considerable delight to spin it round and round (we made our own entertainment in those days). Did this harmless pastime sow the seeds of obsession? While visiting Bob and Sandra at the weekend I instigated a 20-minute discussion (sometimes heated) as I'd been unnerved by reading a packet of Tesco's Roquefort, emblazoned with the words: Made from sheeps' milk.

I think I was about five when I last saw some sheeps.

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