A couple of mildly interesting things came out of today;
Facebook Can Be Useful
I organised a family Sunday lunch for my Mum;'s birthday. I know I slate Facebook but on this occasion it proved to be a useful communication tool. I posted 'where is a good Gastro pub for Sunday lunch in Surrey by the M3'. I got 8 suggestions and after some investigation picked the Windmill at Windlesham, a cute English Country pub that looked pretty stylish. Weird how they only took bookings of 4 people, but after much arm twisting and sickly charm a table for 6 was secured for 2pm.
Do you complain In a restaurant if your meal is not very good?
The age old British question. Usually Brits maintain a reserved silence in the restaurant and then moan like fuck on the way home. A new addition to the utter pointlessness of British behaviour is Tripadvisor/TopTable or any other online guide. A medium for people with too much time on their hands to write a scathing review that a restaurant didn't put enough bread on the table or had to wait 19 minutes for their main course.
The place we were in was lovely. Big bench tables, stylish furnishings and an enormous menu. Sunday Carvery it was not, nor were the prices. No matter as it was Mum's birthday and we said to her. 'It's our treat you can have anything you want on the menu under a fiver'.
The waiters were wonderfully friendly, and starters came and apart from a soft shell crab that was saltier than the Sea everything was groovy. A free glass of champagne was provided to birthday girl and all was well.
Then we waited for main course. And waited. And waited. Around an hour and 19 minutes passed, it was 4pm now, and nearly tea time. Lunch was encroaching into crumpet and muffin time. Eating hours were all over the place. I was getting a bit clucky as i hadn't eaten all day. Another 10-15 Min's passed, the waiters kept on saying 'Chef's plating up now'. This worried me as in my world 'plating up' means something vastly different. No wonder the Chef's taking ages.
Then finally out came the food. Unfortunately we had a waiter with a broken shoulder and an arm in a sling, meaning he brought out every dish individually which took ages. It was like Acorn Antiques. By the time he finished everything was cold. Not only that but two of the dishes were wrong. Oh god the dilemma. Do you keep your trap shut as they were so charming or complain in a decent way without pointing your finger and swearing?
We complained in a gentle way, the staff buzzed around bringing the replacement dishes out (piping hot) just as we finished, so all in all it was a bit of a shambles.
To be fair the manager slashed the bill by 50% and he had good shoes so we were happy. It is a good place, they were just understaffed, it didn't stop us having a good time.
I will always say if something is wrong, not minor things and be a right twat about it, but if you're going out for a meal and some things are pretty bad i reckon it's OK to complain a little as long as you don't embarrass or mortify the person or people you're with.
Road Rage
On the way back, I was on the receiving end of a superb bit of road rage. A Small little gay sports car (I have to be careful here as my car is a bit similar so that's a little pot and kettle) was weaving in and out of traffic driving like a c**t. I was on a dual carriage way at some lights. Gayboy car was in front of me. Lights turned green, all the traffic went and he stayed still, clearly pissing around and arguing with his passenger. I waited for around 20 seconds, by which time the lights were turning amber before beeping the horn (as a signal for him to start driving).
It's a big step beeping the horn in my car as it's a sad apology for a horn. It's equivalent of saying 'excuse me. do you awfully mind moving please', as opposed to the more masculine deep horn of a bigger car which effectively says 'MOVE.TWAT'. Mine is a gay horn and should be used sparingly.
The bloke in front was clearly spitting and didn't move. In fact he stayed put throughout the next set of lights. Slightly odd behaviour as it's on the main road to the M3 and caused a huge queue behind us in the lane.
I thought he had broken down or murdered his passenger but eventually he drove off and it wasn't until I passed him at the next roundabout that I realised he had done it on purpose as he slowed down to go beside me, leaned out of his window and did the wanker sign at me twice with a face so contorted with anger he looked like he was trying to shit a brick.
I then realised he was indeed a complete Twat and he had stopped on purpose because i had the temerity to beep him. I personally feel his reaction was over the top. I didn't signal to him, i was listening to The Verve at the time and casually beeped the horn as an innocent reminder.
The reaction coming back was well over the top. Perhaps he'd been to the Windmill and had to wait 2 hours for a Roast. I reckon if he did he would have murdered all the staff judging by his extreme anger.
One thing he failed to notice. He was a big muscle man with shaved hair in a tiny silver sports coupe, leaning out the window looking menacing throwing the wanker signal. All of that made him look utterly ridiculous. Really stupid. Like a lion in a pair of hot pants. How can you take this man seriously. I pity his female passenger for the rest of the journey/life with him. Clearly too many steroids have made him feel on edge.
Road rage is utterly pointless, trouble is there are just too many cars on the road in London. Too many people and it is inevitable. No doubt I'll be screaming at someone before long. As I said pot and kettle and all that.
Then it was home to munch on Quality Street and Tunnocks Tea cakes. Can't believe people would actually take time to list a meal that was wrong or write a review on a restaurant or a hotel. Oh hang on, what have I just done for the past 30 minutes. Fuck. See. I'm not even aware I'm a hypocrite. It just flows. Now where is the address for tripadvisor? Dear Points of View............
xx
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