Sunday 4 October 2015

Walking and dining.

At the last minute the farmer has gone to recce a walk with a friend who is leading the walk next Saturday.   The farmer will be going on the walk too but is happy to do it twice.

So, a ring round found two friends doing nothing today so out for lunch again.   Mushroom soup and risotto - the soup delicious and the risotto mediocre so it will be consigned to our list of 'not to go there again' pubs.   The list grows.   These days there is such fierce competition that pubs should know better, especially with the finer points:  there was a door open into the garden all the time we were there and as there was fog wafting about the dale at times it was quite chilly in the dining room;  we had to wait a long time to be served the first course but once we got going service was alright;  coffee, obviously filter coffee left on the machine, was bitter and only lukewarm.   Did we complain?  Of course not, we're British!!  

But going out to lunch and an incident earlier in the day did set me thinking.   When I first came up here almost thirty years ago very few (if any) pubs did lunch.   When I was a child, eating out was barely an option except perhaps afternoon tea in Mawer and Collingham, the posh shop in Lincoln, or morning coffee and a scone at The High Bridge Cafe (still there) in Lincoln.   Now such places are ten a penny.

As for going out - well we didn't have a car - my father never learned to drive and there were very few cars in our village apart from the doctor and the vicar and a judge who had a Rolls Royce and a chauffeur.   We had a week's holiday, usually in Skegness, our nearest seaside place and easy to reach on the train.  We might occasionally go to visit a relative a few miles away - either by bus or train.   But that was it.

 This morning, when the farmer took the weekly eggs round to our friend and neighbour, it was to find that he had gone with a group of his friends to L A for the week-end.   Almost the other side of the world from Thursday to Monday night.   How times have changed.

17 comments:

Terra said...

Big changes where you live, and here too. Some good, some not. To me in California, lunch in a pub sounds good. My husband and I recall British pubs fondly :)

Joanne Noragon said...

The car, when I was a child, took my father to work. We children walked, or went downtown on the bus with our mother. If we said we were thirsty the answer generally was you should have had a drink at home, or wait until you get home. The same for the bathroom, though everyone was sent to use the toilet before we left home. If mom needed the car for the day, she took dad to work, and then we had the joy of getting him from work and watching for him to walk from his building. Amazing how in a sea of brown overcoats and brown fedoras, one could pick one's own father!

Rachel Phillips said...

We would never eat out when we were children. The nearest we got was fish and chips when we went to Great Yarmouth. A special treat for me sometimes was ice cream with mum in the local department store which is now John Lewis. It was a posh family run shop then and I always felt I had to whisper when there. Now kids tear around in the same shop screaming and yelling at the tops of their voices. And the parents don't tell them to be quiet. I would never have got away with it.

donna baker said...

It all sounds quaint and heavenly. Safe.

John Going Gently said...

We are all so much mire sophistigated now are we not

Midmarsh John said...

That brought to mind the wonderful odour which drifted from Chambers in the Old Market Place, Grimsby, where you bought coffee ground to order. Above was the Tudor Cafe which, if I remember correctly, had a string trio playing chamber music. A somewhat more relaxing period in many ways. When we lived in London for a few years it would be a visit to a Lyons Corner Shop for tea and buns.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Ah wonderful memories here folks.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Gastropub revolution or not, most pub foor round here is done in a microwave and bunged in rustic looking containers before serving

Barbara said...

Things have certainly changed everywhere...and I'm not so sure that it's been for the better...

Frances said...

Weaver, I still remember growing up in a Virginia when Sunday was for going to church, and perhaps...having an opportunity to stop by a dairy or drug store for ice cream on the way home for Sunday Lunch. nothing else open for business.

I am typing this comment after a late supper, after working from 11:30 to 7:30. On Sunday, lots of customs have changed. That is for sure.

xo

Hildred said...

How true,- how times have changed. Like you eating out was almost a yearly event when I was a child. Different when I was dating, - often had lunch at the King Edward with whichever current airman had leave, and then, of course, travelling with Charles was a gourmet delight. I am back now to the occasional lunch with friends, or perhaps dinner with family, or a take-out. Life is a circle...

Cro Magnon said...

In the late 50's and early 60's when we first started travelling abroad for holidays it all seemed very exotic. In those days the beaches didn't have loungers or thatched parasols all over them, they were just beaches.

Back at home we only visited restaurants when we went up to London for the day.

The History Anorak said...

I can remember thirty plus years ago taking my grandma out for a drive for her birthday and we went to a pub for lunch. (Somewhere out in the Dales - she lived in Bradford so it was probably Haworth way) My mother hit the roof when I got back and told her where we'd been. Grandma had a thoroughly good time and was happy to go up to the bar and order, but mother thought it was shameful to go to the pub! Things HAVE changed!

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

When I first started going into pubs the "menu" consisted of pickled egg, pork pie or bag of crisps. Even then I remember asking for a pork pie and the landlord saying, "What do you think this is; a bloody butcher's?" And nobody complained about the service then either.

Dawn said...

I remember the first time we out for a meal as a family, it was to a Chinese restaurant in Penrith, I was 12 years old it was a special family event I think it was to do with my dads promotion to manager but I remember the meal it was fantastic and I thought we were really Posh :-)

thelma said...

Gosh what a lot of memories. I remember being picked up by my stepmother after school occasionally and going out for tea, which consisted of hot buttered toast and tea served in 'silver' teapots. Then in the 1960s Wimpy and coffee shops - the height of sophistication;)

The Weaver of Grass said...

Oh how I enjoyed all your comments. Memories, memories - can't beat them.