Home Delivery

I am not one to complain without good cause but the restaurant business tends to take a plunge during the cold months. All eleven of them up here!
Prospective diners prefer to huddle up in a warm house, hire a video, open a bottle of wine and order a takeaway.
Is it any wonder that so many of us are piling on the weight?

It only takes a quick phonecall.

Plates out. "Turn on the oven to keep the food warm when it arrives."
Cutlery out. "Don't forget the napkins!"
Trays out.

Crack open a bottle of wine.
30 minutes. Not a morsel of food in sight!

45 minutes. Irate phonecall.
"Feed me!"
"On its way right now, sir. The driver got lost."

Crack open another bottle of wine. Cheaper than the first one. One must always drink the better wine first. Allegedly, after the first bottle even vinegar tastes ok.
Can't resist a thin sliver of Camembert.

60 minutes. Knock on the door.
"That'll be £25, sir."
"Here's a tip for you: get yourself a GPS, mate!"

Slam!

Tear. Tear. Tear.
"Why do they have to wrap everything so bloody tightly?"
"Hmmm. Do you remember what we ordered?"
"Er... Chinese, I think."

Two minutes later...
Back in front of the telly.
Munch, munch...
"Did you put the rest in the oven?"
"I think so."
...

The alarm goes off.
"Bloody Hell! Monday already!"
"No, you silly thing! It's the smoke alarm. Burnt leftovers. We must've dozed off."
Missed half the film.

Some guys are born lucky!




















Algerian artist Souad Massi sings Mesk Ellil (Honeysuckle)

The ripple effect...

Last night I nearly forgot that only a few days ago, it was so cold we had to turn the heating on at the restaurants. I nearly forgot the arctic temperatures, because last night we finally got a glimpse of our elusive summer.

As I got to the lock gates, a small fishing craft was coming back into the marina. It left a beautiful ripple in its wake. I can never resist a ripple so I got the camera out and snapped, snapped!

Our diners are "subjected" to this great spectacle on a regular basis.
I often joke on with some of them by asking where they have "parked" their yacht... Funnily enough a few of our customers come from all over the North East to spend a few hours on their boats.

During the summer, many foreign yachtspeople visit our restaurants. Moi, the unfulfilled Sinbad, having only sailed on merchant ships during my student days, I always end up quizzing them about their intrepid voyages.

Last year, a Greek couple stopped by on their way up to Scotland. I used what little Greek I remembered from my sailing days, and the man, a retired sea captain, what Spanish he remembered from his South American runs, and we ended up having a delightful conversation.






















Today, I am quite excited! A Blogfriend is visiting one of our restaurants!

A short escapade...

Carcassonne is a fortified French town, in the Aude département in the former province of Languedoc. It is separated into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. It has been added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997. And for a good reason: La Cité is a truly awesome sight from wherever you stand.

Nowadays, it is full of good restaurants (My favourites are Le Saint Jean and Le Pont de la Tour), bars, hotels and souvenirs shops.











Carcassonne is surrounded by beautiful countryside, most of which is vineyards producing great wine such as Minervois and Blanquette de Limoux.






























Le Canal du Midi meanders its way through Carcassonne, Narbonne...

The indoor market (Narbonne)

It's only Goodbye, Carca... A la prochaine!

Lost...

Today, I got in the car to go to a refrigeration company nearby to have a look a new undercounter fridge. Just about five miles away. My friend, Didier gave me the instructions. Off I went...

And, guess what? Yes, I got lost...

After 15 minutes of looking around for my final destination, I gave up, left my car at the entrance of a woodland park and followed a sign...

(Click on the photos to enlarge them.)




























And tomorrow afternoon, I will be on one of those heading for the Spanish sun, food and wine...

Favourite subject...

Don't you love it when the weather forecast goes wrong!

I am sure that most of you remember when Michael Fish, in his now infamous broadcast told viewers: "Earlier on today apparently a lady rang the BBC and said she heard that there was a hurricane on the way. Well, don’t worry if you’re watching, there isn’t."
And guess what? A hurricane uproots trees and causes havoc in the South!

April was so warm most of my winter clothes got stowed away by the thirtieth. Every night before I go to bed I feel like fishing out some of my woolly jumpers just in case we wake up to ten inches of snow...

Last night I went to see "Next" a Nicholas Cage film where he can see the future, well just ten minutes ahead.
But ten minutes are ten minutes!
In the UK, they are the difference between getting soaking wet or dying of dehydration! (Yeah, right... dream on... Slight exaggeration...)

Now, where am I going with this post?
I haven't got the foggiest!
I just wanted to waffle a little, just long enough so you don't wear out your monitors looking at my beautiful photo taken with my beautiful new camera...

More of the same coming up in my Arty Farty blog...