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Taken at the Castle Tea Room, York.
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Yesterday was yet another American tradition that has spread around the world, Black Friday, and it's one I welcome with open arms. After spending an exhausting afternoon traipsing the heaving streets of York I thought I would spoil my maid with a cup of tea and a slice of cake, nothing gladdens the heart more than an old fashioned non-chain cafe that serves tea in the traditional way, in a tea pot with the sort of cup and saucers your nanna would have had 'for best' and served by a motherly figure wearing a tabard, she brought the tea tray and cakes to the table with a cheery 'there you go love' that's Yorkshire for bon appetite. You'll never get sort of service from those soulless coffeehouse chains, talking of which, I was in one last week, not by choice, I was meeting friends, I ordered a cup of tea and was presented with a mug of hot water with a teabag floating in it, no teapot, can you imagine that? If it wasn't for my friends who were waiting patiently for me to join them, I would have walked out in disgust. Another thing I despise about those establishments is the enforced servility of the staff, 'enjoy your tea/coffee etc, have a nice day' you're on minimum wage, why should you fucking care if I enjoy my tea or not, of course I don't voice what I'm thinking, otherwise I'd be locked up, but I did yesterday, as I entered a Ralph Lauren shop, the door bitch was proudly boasting that "there's 25% off everything in store today", so I asked her, does that mean everything was 25% overpriced to start with? I didn't wait for her reply. Whilst unfolding the polo shirts, I over heard two woman talking about
Brenda Lee and the song Rocking Around The Christmas Tree that was playing in the shop at the time, it went something like this:
Ere, you know lass singing this song?
Yer, it's good innit?
She's just released it's first ever video forrit 65 years after she recorded it.
Eee fancy! I thought she were dead.
Me too.
What wor it like, have you seen it?
Yer, it wor crap.
It wor crap back then, too, Mitzi.Aye.
ReplyDeleteI won't argue with you there.
DeleteOh, I do like a decent tea shop. Foreigners (and I include US chains in that) haven't a clue what a teapot actually is! Mind you, that donkey poster would have put me off having a wazz. Jx
ReplyDeleteI always take a box of teabags on holiday and one of these individual teapot in blue.
DeleteI was very tempted to take up donkey's offer of a seat but I don't like spending too long in public toilets in case people think I'm in there shitting you know how people talk.
I've just noticed the price £33.09, bloody rob dogs, I paid about £17 for mine and I thought that was steep.
DeleteIt's down to £30.71 now, Mitzi. What a bargain...
DeleteYou can pick one up for free in Waitrose cafe! The colour choice is limited though, Grey.
DeleteA mug of hot water with a teabag floating in it, and no teapot is no cuppa tea, as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Each to their own I suppose, but it's just wrong and those wooden sticks to stir it with, no, no and thrice no!
DeleteThese are mighty tubes. They are surely needed.
ReplyDeleteBrenda Lee never was my cup of tea. (Fetch the laurel !)
The UK ranks 3rd for being the most obese nation in Europe, according to the World Health Organization, we need those huge pipes for the massive turds to pass through.
Delete"3rd for being the most obese nation in Europe"
DeleteCaramba ! I though the "big Three" would be Belgium (Beer and Pommes), Germany (Bier und Schweinsbraten), and Poland or some other country from the East ("traditional" cooking of the extra fat class), but not the UK. On the other hand there used to be annual "fatbergs" in London and elsewhere - one does not hear about them any more, so there may be less fraying. Or bigger tubes.
The worlds fattest nation of the 192 countries listed are:
Delete1 Nauru somewhere in the Pacific ocean that was once part of the German empire in the 19 century.
11 America, I'm surprised it wasn't in the top 10.
36 UK
79 Germany
A lot of people in the UK have thrown out their chip pans and have bought air fryers, they're a boon!
There seems to be a whole lot of deodorizing going on on that shelf above the toilet.
ReplyDeleteAnd did Brenda Lee really release a new video of that crappy old song? I don't want to look it up on Google and give the algorithm any more ammunition than it already has against me.
A whole lot of deodorizing and a whole lot of toilet roll.
DeleteI would have like to have seen one of those crochet toilet roll covers with doll on a lace doily.
DeleteYes she did, she must be skint and needs the exposure to sell a few more albums. I provided a link to the video via her mentioned name. I don't think she'll be touring any time soon.
DeleteI wonder if they get many toilet roll thefts.
DeleteYou can never have too much.
DeleteI wouldn't steal toilet roll that's been sitting out in plain view NEAR the toilet. So unhygienic.
DeleteAn aside: RIP, "Sticky Vicky"! Jx
ReplyDeleteThank you Jon, sad news indeed. Did you ever see her act? She knew how to make an entrance I first saw her performance in Carla's Bar about 20 years ago, she enters wearing a pashmina then drops it to the floor revealing her birthday suit (unironed), she really knew how to pack em in! She once gave me a piece of paper to hold for her to slash with a razor blade, to prove it was a real one. I didn't know where to look. For a thrilling finale she would open a bottle of beer using her steak purse. All that happens in the new town where the common people are, I stay in the old town area, much nicer.
DeleteThanks for the link, Jon. Good to know that her daughter (another thing that popped out of Vicky) will be taking up where her mother left off.
DeleteMitzi - If I had ever entered a bar where someone on stage was producing razor blades and light bulbs out of her fanny, I would have run screaming for the hills! Jx
DeletePS MJ - looking for a change of a career..?
Are you MJ, are you?
DeleteStill working on my technique, thank you very much.
Delete