Today Mum and I went down to Kent to celebrate Nan's birthday. I really can't believe she's 91 - she looks more like a woman in her late 70s and is still independent, living on her own and keeps her flat spotlessly clean. I only hope I'm like that if I get to her age!
There was a lot going on at work this morning when we left - we were having some new carpet fitted, stainless steel splash boards installed in the kitchen and our handyman was cutting perspex sheets so it was great to escape and leave poor Dad to it. He told us later that there was a big mess so no doubt we'll have to tackle that tomorrow morning!
It took us two hours to get to Dartford which wasn't bad and after a quick coffee we left for the Harvester Restaurant in my uncle's car. It was lovely to not have to drive, even though it wasn't far! Amazingly, for a Monday lunchtime, the pub was heaving and we were told there would be a short wait, so we went to get a drink but before we were served, smoke started billowing out of the fireplace! The pub was very cold and the Landlord had obviously decided to light the fire to warm things up a bit, but the flues were blocked. The weirdest thing is that no-one moved, even when (after a long interval) the fire alarms started. We could see what was happening, but people further into the restaurant must have wondered where the smoke was coming from, but did nothing!
I must admit I prefer to eat smoked food rather than be smoked myself, but after a lot of flapping with papers, the smoke was blown away and we were told by our waitress that our wait would now be an hour or more as the alarms had shut down the kitchen! Luckily, as we finished our drinks and prepared to leave to try our luck elsewhere, things improved and we were able to go through and help ourselves to the salad bar, the only good thing about Harvester restaurants...
Our meal was not the best I've ever had. Three of us had starters (breaded mushrooms and crispy King Prawns) and then we all chose the turkey (why? I had to ask myself afterwards...) The turkey was OK, but the vegetables were obviously re-heated from frozen and the Brussels sprouts could have been used as ammunition. Plus there were about 100 on my plate as well as the same number of sliced carrots, two of my least favourite veg... The roast potatoes were an insult to potatoes and the stuffing looked like it had dropped out of the back of some large animal with a digestive problem...
By now the four of us were slowly going blue from the Arctic temperature and mum surreptitiously went over to feel a radiator. It was stone cold. We paid our bill and fled back to the warmth of Nan's flat.
The journey home took three hours. Everything was going OK until an accident stopped us in our tracks on the M1 near Luton (not us...someone else) and I arrived at the pub at 7.30pm just in time to take Keith home!
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