Well home eventually but not until nearly 22:00. Why?
A walk around Abergavenny, which already seems an age ago. You know that feeling of surprise that one moment I was there and now I'm here and there is already in the past yet fresh experience?
SO we visited the church, the indoor market and then teas and coffees at The Angel Hotel. T warned us as we arrived that she had ordered flour and sugar - scone with cream and jam. I am so glad that M had been confused about what T was doing about her abstinence. I have held from gossipping or talking about things that are none of my business to discuss.
After the Angel we drove to the castle. Splendid ruins. We had lunch sitting out in the grounds ad although cold it was nice to not be eating in the car in a car park.
We then walked around the castle museum. It was fascinating. An entire shop had been pulled apart not so long ago and resurrected as a display in the museum. What a thing to keep. M was chatting with a very good looking man on and off. I made a comment about the low fling planes questioning whether they were still allowed and apparently this was still a low flying zone. The good looking man responded to my comment of what a pity saying they have to practise somewhere. I think he may have been RAF. He didn't really speak to me again after that, anyway he seemed interested in M.
The father, was so interesting. Born and bred there. Born on one of the hills (on a farm) and then had lived for his life to date in Pantygelli where we had been staying. He added to the stories about the Smiths. He spoke of old Mr Smith dying having heard a noise out amongst the animals he went off to investigate. His wife was concerned when he didn't return, and then still didn't return and still longer had not returned. On exploring she found him dead in the field having had a heart attack. He hushed his mouth, he said no more. There is mystery around this story, hinted at strongly by his comment of there are many tales about the Smiths. A few years later old Mrs Smith went to Canada with her sister, visiting relatives. They were in a car crash, killed outright. And although he didn't say as much he commented on the current Smiths and all their kids. I think he was hinting at the "curse" on the household. I will write more about this.
Anyway eventually we set off from the castle, leaving Abergavenny behind us. What a great time we have had. I commented on having really found it easy being with T and M. We discussed how we have got along with each other and noticing our differences. I have a feeling M finds it less easy to get along with people's differences. It's only an opinion. I could be wrong but she commented on knowing why she can not live with anybody. What I tend to do is take on her difficulty as criticism of me. She made a couple of comments about me that I think are perfectly valid but there are other things that I feel OK with about myself. Those are things she is picking out and not necessarily because I am wrong.
I was struggling to work out timings for dinner. Having decided to eat out for our evening meal I was realising that we would be far too early based on the idea that M wanted to keep rolling really to get home before it's dark. So I suggested we might go for coffee/tea at Thornbury Castle. I remember how much my mum loved it when she and dad went for a weekend there. What a very beautiful Castle. A wedding was taking place, and that contributed to the afternoon tea being completely booked out - no room at the inn. So we used the toilet facilities and left having a cuppa in a very mediocre place in Thornbury itself. Then we stopped at the pub I had planned in Collingbourne Kingston.
Please no on ever go there. It was dreadful. The food was less than mediocre, in fact generally it was very poor cuisine. Only £9.95 for a poached salmon salad. My salmon was pretty dry. The courgettes seasonal vegetable side order were greasy and barely tasted of courgettes. The other seasonal veg was red cabbage. Wow! Stingy seasonal vegetables side order. And not a selection at all. But the slug was alive and well when I saw it crawling across my plate. Eeeek! I feel sick even thinking of it. So the pub to avoid is the Barleycorn. Not really because of the slug but for the way in which the matter was handled and the general terrible service, the slovenly approach by untrained staff (poor them, left to front the difficult situation I am about to describe), an angry and nasty Chef/manager and his wife who completely left us unacknowledged, not even an apology and continued to let the youngsters deal with the situation. M and T said their food was not good. Now without the slug event what does one do about this? When the food is mediocre and that's their standard what should one do about not good food?
Anyway, when I spotted said slug my first reaction was to try and remove it without anyone noticing. Why on earth ...? I felt embarrassed that this was happening to me. I wanted to surreptitiously remove the evidence without anyone noticing so that they would not be affected or would be thinking badly of me for having the slug on my plate. It would be something they could ridicule me about when already I was feeling dreadful about the experience of a crawling slug from food I had been eating my way thought. How disgusting. I gave the young waiter my plate and the slug. Of course the mood deepened on the table, and this after M and T had been having a long discussion about T's state of mind and attitude etc. I had dozed off so awoke to hear the last few miles of this situation. T seemed down but the slug slide brought the entire atmosphere to a big low. M could barely eat more of her food despite saying tat the burger part tasted good. There rest was not good. Although the chips looked lovely she and T said they were awful, greasy. Matching the courgettes. And the fish T had ordered she aid was tasteless. When the waiter came to the table I asked her to speak to the manager as ot only was I not prepared to pay for my meal which had already been knocked off the bill, I suggested that she might speak with the manager as were entirely dissatisfied and asked for the manager to compensate us. Well he didn't come out for ages. Of course he was busy with a "fine dining" evening. What a load of rubbish food they would be served up. Tat pub used to be so good, good home cooing. Now? So frustrating. When eventually the manager did appear I stated y thoughts and feelings very calmly and his attitude was diabolical. His sorry was followed with a but and a justification for the salad. He said that it is washed as soon as it arrives or something to that effect. He didn't mean sorry at all and that was the first trigger for rising anger. Then without any further apology he said he wasn't prepared to do anything about the cost of the other two meals. His dogmatic attitude fuelled the simmering anger. I was not seething but in my frustration at the injustice I felt my anger levels rise. To begin with I was argumentative . Then he kept talking over me so I shouted "please let me finish". I think he was aware that I could cause a louder scene in his pub that none of us had so far done. He said that he wanted a name and address to take us to the small claims court if we didn't pay. None of us had ID with our address on. The young waiter asked how we had got there which made no sense to me and so I asked what difference it made how I got there based on with or without ID.There was no follow up on this. M suggested we simply leave. But outside I said look I am not prepared to be taken to the small claims court win or lose. And if we just drove off they would take the licence plate of the car and no doubt we'd be stopped down the road. The chef/manager popped his head around the door saying that if we left without leaving any details it would be theft. Oh! How flipping frustrating this horrible man who had been a party to the mood of our day being flattened, me feeling sick an the others not being able enjoy their meal with worry, being a complete and utter imbecile. Goodwill is so important to nurture and whatever happened to the customer being right. We returned to pay with cash as none of us were prepared to leave our details. I am interested in how once again I was fighting for what I considered to be the underdogs, M and T. And it was my meal that had the slug and had been deducted off the bill. The slug and bill.
I'm tired now so will continue with this horrid saga tomorrow.
Night
Bliss
XX
A walk around Abergavenny, which already seems an age ago. You know that feeling of surprise that one moment I was there and now I'm here and there is already in the past yet fresh experience?
SO we visited the church, the indoor market and then teas and coffees at The Angel Hotel. T warned us as we arrived that she had ordered flour and sugar - scone with cream and jam. I am so glad that M had been confused about what T was doing about her abstinence. I have held from gossipping or talking about things that are none of my business to discuss.
After the Angel we drove to the castle. Splendid ruins. We had lunch sitting out in the grounds ad although cold it was nice to not be eating in the car in a car park.
We then walked around the castle museum. It was fascinating. An entire shop had been pulled apart not so long ago and resurrected as a display in the museum. What a thing to keep. M was chatting with a very good looking man on and off. I made a comment about the low fling planes questioning whether they were still allowed and apparently this was still a low flying zone. The good looking man responded to my comment of what a pity saying they have to practise somewhere. I think he may have been RAF. He didn't really speak to me again after that, anyway he seemed interested in M.
The father, was so interesting. Born and bred there. Born on one of the hills (on a farm) and then had lived for his life to date in Pantygelli where we had been staying. He added to the stories about the Smiths. He spoke of old Mr Smith dying having heard a noise out amongst the animals he went off to investigate. His wife was concerned when he didn't return, and then still didn't return and still longer had not returned. On exploring she found him dead in the field having had a heart attack. He hushed his mouth, he said no more. There is mystery around this story, hinted at strongly by his comment of there are many tales about the Smiths. A few years later old Mrs Smith went to Canada with her sister, visiting relatives. They were in a car crash, killed outright. And although he didn't say as much he commented on the current Smiths and all their kids. I think he was hinting at the "curse" on the household. I will write more about this.
Anyway eventually we set off from the castle, leaving Abergavenny behind us. What a great time we have had. I commented on having really found it easy being with T and M. We discussed how we have got along with each other and noticing our differences. I have a feeling M finds it less easy to get along with people's differences. It's only an opinion. I could be wrong but she commented on knowing why she can not live with anybody. What I tend to do is take on her difficulty as criticism of me. She made a couple of comments about me that I think are perfectly valid but there are other things that I feel OK with about myself. Those are things she is picking out and not necessarily because I am wrong.
I was struggling to work out timings for dinner. Having decided to eat out for our evening meal I was realising that we would be far too early based on the idea that M wanted to keep rolling really to get home before it's dark. So I suggested we might go for coffee/tea at Thornbury Castle. I remember how much my mum loved it when she and dad went for a weekend there. What a very beautiful Castle. A wedding was taking place, and that contributed to the afternoon tea being completely booked out - no room at the inn. So we used the toilet facilities and left having a cuppa in a very mediocre place in Thornbury itself. Then we stopped at the pub I had planned in Collingbourne Kingston.
Please no on ever go there. It was dreadful. The food was less than mediocre, in fact generally it was very poor cuisine. Only £9.95 for a poached salmon salad. My salmon was pretty dry. The courgettes seasonal vegetable side order were greasy and barely tasted of courgettes. The other seasonal veg was red cabbage. Wow! Stingy seasonal vegetables side order. And not a selection at all. But the slug was alive and well when I saw it crawling across my plate. Eeeek! I feel sick even thinking of it. So the pub to avoid is the Barleycorn. Not really because of the slug but for the way in which the matter was handled and the general terrible service, the slovenly approach by untrained staff (poor them, left to front the difficult situation I am about to describe), an angry and nasty Chef/manager and his wife who completely left us unacknowledged, not even an apology and continued to let the youngsters deal with the situation. M and T said their food was not good. Now without the slug event what does one do about this? When the food is mediocre and that's their standard what should one do about not good food?
Anyway, when I spotted said slug my first reaction was to try and remove it without anyone noticing. Why on earth ...? I felt embarrassed that this was happening to me. I wanted to surreptitiously remove the evidence without anyone noticing so that they would not be affected or would be thinking badly of me for having the slug on my plate. It would be something they could ridicule me about when already I was feeling dreadful about the experience of a crawling slug from food I had been eating my way thought. How disgusting. I gave the young waiter my plate and the slug. Of course the mood deepened on the table, and this after M and T had been having a long discussion about T's state of mind and attitude etc. I had dozed off so awoke to hear the last few miles of this situation. T seemed down but the slug slide brought the entire atmosphere to a big low. M could barely eat more of her food despite saying tat the burger part tasted good. There rest was not good. Although the chips looked lovely she and T said they were awful, greasy. Matching the courgettes. And the fish T had ordered she aid was tasteless. When the waiter came to the table I asked her to speak to the manager as ot only was I not prepared to pay for my meal which had already been knocked off the bill, I suggested that she might speak with the manager as were entirely dissatisfied and asked for the manager to compensate us. Well he didn't come out for ages. Of course he was busy with a "fine dining" evening. What a load of rubbish food they would be served up. Tat pub used to be so good, good home cooing. Now? So frustrating. When eventually the manager did appear I stated y thoughts and feelings very calmly and his attitude was diabolical. His sorry was followed with a but and a justification for the salad. He said that it is washed as soon as it arrives or something to that effect. He didn't mean sorry at all and that was the first trigger for rising anger. Then without any further apology he said he wasn't prepared to do anything about the cost of the other two meals. His dogmatic attitude fuelled the simmering anger. I was not seething but in my frustration at the injustice I felt my anger levels rise. To begin with I was argumentative . Then he kept talking over me so I shouted "please let me finish". I think he was aware that I could cause a louder scene in his pub that none of us had so far done. He said that he wanted a name and address to take us to the small claims court if we didn't pay. None of us had ID with our address on. The young waiter asked how we had got there which made no sense to me and so I asked what difference it made how I got there based on with or without ID.There was no follow up on this. M suggested we simply leave. But outside I said look I am not prepared to be taken to the small claims court win or lose. And if we just drove off they would take the licence plate of the car and no doubt we'd be stopped down the road. The chef/manager popped his head around the door saying that if we left without leaving any details it would be theft. Oh! How flipping frustrating this horrible man who had been a party to the mood of our day being flattened, me feeling sick an the others not being able enjoy their meal with worry, being a complete and utter imbecile. Goodwill is so important to nurture and whatever happened to the customer being right. We returned to pay with cash as none of us were prepared to leave our details. I am interested in how once again I was fighting for what I considered to be the underdogs, M and T. And it was my meal that had the slug and had been deducted off the bill. The slug and bill.
I'm tired now so will continue with this horrid saga tomorrow.
Night
Bliss
XX
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