The chips were from last night. Number One Son and his partner were up in Nottingham and we went out for a meal in the evening. I had a rack of ribs and chips, plus corn on the cob, coleslaw and a visit to the salad bar. I like to think, particularly as I stuck to the small portion of chips, that it was a reasonably healthy meal.
It was the Harvester restaurant I have written about before, sometimes in complimentary fashion, sometimes less so. The food was good this time, the salad was fresh, appetising and even interesting, though the bread rolls weren’t particularly inspiring.
What I didn’t like on this visit was the notice from a parking company telling us that we had to key our car registration into the terminal in the restaurant or we would be fined £100. This sort of thing is becoming very common, as are tales of people being fined. It sets the whole evening off on a negative footing. We had something similar when we went to Tim Horton’s in Mansfield. After eating we found there was a barely visible notice in the car park telling us there was a time limit on parking. It It was long enough and we hadn’t overstayed. On the other hand, if we had been wanting a relaxed and leisurely breakfast, the limit would have been enough to make it less relaxed.
We haven’t been back.
There are other eating places we can use that are of a similar quality and price to Harvester, and as a result of the car parking notice we will be more likely to use them in the future.
However, that wasn’t the disappointment. I thought of a book title while we were out at the garden centre today. It just came to me. Breakfast at Wetherspoons. For those of you overseas, it’s a national pub chain with a variable reputation, well known carpets and a place in British life. No, I’ve never been in one, but I thought it made a good title. Someone, disappointingly, has already used it.
Tch!
I thought I’d go for food as today’s photo theme.



It doesn’t sound like eating out in your area is much fun these days. Your toasted tea cakes in that photo seem to have plenty of raisins, though. My mother would have loved those.
I’m sure we could find places to eat if we looked harder. I’m just a creature of habit.
Actually I have quite liked Wetherspoons – especially for a few pints early in the morning 🙂
I’m looking forward to visiting my first one. 🙂
Car parks as a source of revenue through fines seem to have become all the rage lately.
One of my theories is that during lockdown a lot of people who liked petty rules and regulations were encouraged to throw their weight about. Businesses that don’t like handling cash similarly took advantage of the situation.
Eventually, as people who get fined by these people lose confidence in the laws of the country we will become less law abiding – an example being the people who destry speed cameras.