Skip to main content

All I want is a cup of tea

Having spent a very enjoyable 5 days in the rain in Symonds Yat, we faced what ended up as being a very long drive home.  Driving, or crawling, through torrential rain, the journey seemed to be interminable.  After 3 hours at the wheel I declared my need to stop for a cuppa so we pulled in at a service station.   There was a Starbucks in one building so we pulled up our hoods and hurried in.  I wanted Green tea or any herbal tea, even an Earl Grey would be good but I couldn't see tea on the board.  A young lad was stacking the shelf full of biscuits so I asked him if they had tea.  'Oh yes,' he said, so I queued patiently.  After 10 minutes I reached the front of the queue.  'We only sell coffee, not tea, or we have coca cola.'  I left my family drinking their coffee and wandered out in the rain to see what other delights I could find.  Spotting another building I ventured in.   Two more Starbucks and no tea.  You have to be kidding!  Tea is the British national drink and although I don't like bog standard tea, I am outraged that they don't sell it, let alone green tea.

I went back to the car and waited for the others to finish.  An hour later we found another service station on the A34.  It used to be a Little Chef serving eggs and bacon, salad, toasted tea cakes and scones.  Now it is a Starbucks selling coffee, small packets of biscuits and even smaller packets of crisps - and no tea! The floor  was filthy, as were the tables and even the chairs.   I wandered disconsolately back to the car.  After nearly five hours of driving I pulled wearily into yet another service station.  My heart sank when I saw the familiar sign of Starbucks.  I couldn't find the will to get out of the car so I sent my son in to ask the question.

A few minutes later he ran out, shouting in a booming voice, much to the alarm of some and amusement of other travellers, 'they have herbal tea!'

I was due a cheque which didn't arrive so following the instructions for reporting a lost cheque I completed my name, address, account number and, oh dear they want the cheque number.  You cannot proceed without the cheque number it said.  Well if I had that I wouldn't be reporting it would I?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Playing by ear

My father could play the piano.  Not an unusual skill but he was deaf.  He lost his  hearing fighting in the army in India in the 30s so he was an adult when he lost it and therefore remembered tunes, even though he couldn't hear him.  However he didn't have the skill to learn anything new so  either you liked the old music or you didn't.  He used to say that he played by ear and then would roar with laughter.  He would have struggled in many ways with modern living but most of all during the pandemic, he would have lost his ability to communicate as he always lip read.  There must be thousands of people like him today who still rely on reading lips to understand,  in fact all of us do it to some extent, so please be patient if someone is struggling to communicate while you are wearing a mask. I went to the supermarket today and at the check out, the cashier asked me to move the trolley into a particular position.  As I manoeuvred it ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oops!

 The air conditioning has broken in my car so it was some relief when the temperature dropped  back to the 30 degree mark.  This gave my neighbours fresh enthusiasm to clear up overgrown vegetation.  At my request my American neighbour climbed down to a flat bit of ground where a tree had grown about 6 feet in as many weeks, to lop it.  My job was to clear all the debris when it fell and drag it to a parking space in the courtyard.  The system was working well with another neighbour and her granddaughter joining in to help me clear the debris.  Meanwhile. up above us the American was in full swing, not stopping at 'lopping' the tree but cutting it right back to its roots.  Soon great big branches were hurtling down and that is when it happened.  One branch, instead of coming straight down to the ground decided to take a detour onto his garage roof, creating a big hole right above where his precious car, a Tesla, was being kept safe and sound....
1 comment
Read more

I'm Free

 After being incarcerated in my son's house waiting for the results of the day 2 test I was finally allowed out today.  I went to Chichester and was saddened by the number of familiar shops that have disappeared from the town centre.  Bognor is the same.  You wouldn't die of thirst in either town though as the number of cafes has increased.  Both town centres were busy making it difficult to keep a safe distance from others but many people were wearing masks in the street. I was pulled over by Customs in Caen.  As I opened the trunk of the car one of the officers asked me if I was carrying goods.  'Yes,' I replied, ' French Champagne and French wine'  They nodded approvingly and waved me away. During my 3 days in the house, I have cleaned, filed all their paperwork, mended the shower, cooked dinner and tried watching television, the latter being totally uninspiring.  The news consists of covid, travel restrictions, forbidden Christmas parties...
Post a Comment
Read more