The Night Mail

[polybear]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Fair point. But you can spend that sort of money to attend a top-tier sporting event.....

 

Bear couldn't.....

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

(or even on an O gauge locomotive 😁) which doesn’t seem to carry the same sort opprobrium as does spending a similar sized wodge of cash on a meal.

 

Hmm..... a s/h 7mm Deltic in nice condition (with change for sossie n' chips for two whilst sitting in the park) .....or a namby pamby din dins? 

Bear needs some independent, expert help here......PUPPEEEEEEEERZ........

 

 

Edited July 11 by polybear

[PhilJ W]

I very rarely if ever use those very expensive restaurants being discussed here. Another reason is that many of the staff in such establishments are on minimum wage and with those sort of prices they could easily pay their staff a bit lot more. I'd much prefer a cafe of the greasy spoon variety.

[iL Dottore]

16 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I very rarely if ever use those very expensive restaurants being discussed here. Another reason is that many of the staff in such establishments are on minimum wage and with those sort of prices they could easily pay their staff a bit lot more. I'd much prefer a cafe of the greasy spoon variety.

Perhaps at one time, but no longer. Thanks to the “benefits of Brexit“ cheap labour from Europe has been in short supply and restauranteurs at all levels have been finding it incredibly difficult to get experienced and qualified staff. Of course, unless you are a Chef-Patron, you won’t get the big bucks but nowadays you will get a decent wage.

There have been recent articles in the Grauniad from people like Tom Kerridge and Michel Roux Jr, describing how the entire restaurant landscape has altered post Brexit

 

Another point, it wasn’t so much the high-end restaurants which were stiffing their staff, but the middle of the range ones. High-end restaurants depend on faultless cooking and flawless service – which you don’t get from minimum wage slaves.

Edited July 11 by iL Dottore

[rockershovel]

8 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Perhaps at one time, but no longer. Thanks to the “benefits of Brexit“ cheap labour from Europe has been in short supply and restauranteurs at all levels have been finding it incredibly difficult to get experienced and qualified staff. Of course, unless you are a Chef-Patron, you won’t get the big bucks but nowadays you will get a decent wage.

There have been recent articles in the Grauniad from people like Tom Kerridge and Michel Roux Jr, describing how the entire restaurant landscape has altered post Brexit

 

Another point, it wasn’t so much the high-end restaurants which were stiffing their staff, but the middle of the range ones. High-end restaurants depend on faultless cooking and flawless service – which you don’t get from minimum wage slaves.

Do you know, I honestly don't care in the slightest. The restuarant/hospitality sector could be ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING provided that whatever we were doing was producing proper jobs, paying worthwhile wages and creating actual wealth. 

 

Brexit has certainly worked for me, on one level. The construction industry was sourcing over 40% of its workforce from Eastern Europe with attendant wage erosion and tax evasion. That, at least has been substantially curtailed.

 

Likewise I would cheerfully accept being unable to book an Uber or a pizza delivery, as the price of very substantially reduced immigration. We seened to manage without them and I'm sure we could do so again. Same goes for getting my hair cut in a slightly dingy corner shop, by a distant cousin of Al Murray's Pub Landlord 

[rockershovel]

58 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

To be contentious, I would argue that in a modern, secular, democracy, no-one (and no one group) should be considered beyond reproach, criticism, mockery or insult, no religion or belief should be immune to challenge, questioning, criticism or being poked fun at. It’s only by robust debate, tilting at windmills, toppling of shibboleths and pushing the boundaries, that progress - in all aspects of human existence - can be made.

 

There’s something perverse about a political philosophy that will try and censor me (or worse) for expressing a mild criticism of, or unwanted observation on, (say) The Church Of PB (such as “they’re the fat bears that stuff themselves with cake, aren’t they?”), yet will turn a blind eye when activists of The Church of PB openly threaten me with being boiled alive in baked beans for daring to criticise the Great Beary Leader.

 

I made up The Church of PB to provide a humorous example in order to illustrate a philosophical point, unfortunately nowadays, in both the UK and the US it is far too easy to replace The Church of PB with a real life example.

I believe you will find that your definition of "progressive" lacks support among the political class....

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I knew you'd recall seeing her.

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear very much suspects that I'm not the only TNM'er who would baulk at the idea of splashin' £450** (with "discretionary 12.5% service charge") for two din dins.  Plus drinks.......

 

(**Based on the 10 course taster menu)

Not if you weren't paying though Bear.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I have been to our local Michelin certified establishment on many occasions.   Last time it was just over £1000, but that was for 4 and coffee was included. 

I'm clearly not moving in the right culinary circles.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Fair point. But you can spend that sort of money to attend a top-tier sporting event (or even on an O gauge locomotive 😁) which doesn’t seem to carry the same sort opprobrium as does spending a similar sized wodge of cash on a meal.

Ah, but 24 hours later the meal goes down the tubes and the sporting event is over when the last whistle is blown. The O scale locomotive will give one pleasure for many, many years. Sometimes even beyond the end of your years. I have several pre-war steamers (maybe one electric*, too) that were built before the world war and still give me pleasure when I run them.

 

*The one electric was available from the late 1930s till sometime in the early 1960s. I have no real idea when mine was built, only a suspicion based on many factors.

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Could it be that, deep down, a lot of Brits are closet Calvinists?

Probably not in the religious doctrine sense. Matthew was told by a Belgian friend that the reason you only get one biscuit, not two with your coffee in the Netherlands was due to Calvinist practices. 
Tony

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Fair point. But you can spend that sort of money to attend a top-tier sporting event (or even on an O gauge locomotive 😁) which doesn’t seem to carry the same sort opprobrium as does spending a similar sized wodge of cash on a meal.

Could it be that, deep down, a lot of Brits are closet Calvinists?

 

No we just don't have that sort of disposable income that's all. Plus just think how many sheds I could get for that sort of money.

 

Have I mentioned that I don't have a shed.

Edited July 11 by Winslow Boy

[Dave Hunt]

Try as I may to be reasonable (honestly I do) and see the other person's point of view* there are, unfortunately, myriad situations where I just cannot help being totally and utterly unreasonable. Things such as child molesting, cruelty to animals and many other things just make me see red and I cannot for the life of me see any justification or excuse for those who perpetrate such acts so my response is may they rot in hell, preferably after suffering greatly whilst alive. The fact that this does not sit comfortably with my professed Christian moral code does give me pause for thought at times but I guess that my visceral response is hard wired into me. 

 

*And that even applies to followers of the GWR. Fans of the Flying Saucepan may be another matter though.....

 

Dave

[Oldddudders]

8 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Have I mentioned that I don't have a shed.

Shocking deprivation, hitherto unknown. Ask for your money back!

[Winslow Boy]

1 minute ago, Oldddudders said:

Shocking deprivation, hitherto unknown. Ask for your money back!

If I thought I'd be in with a chance don't you think I wouldn't have but theres just too many tight fisted, short a£&#d badgers in front of me in the queue.

[Tony_S]

28 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I'm clearly not moving in the right culinary circles.

You are on the right track with “circles”.

[polybear]

40 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Not if you weren't paying though Bear.

 

S'funny you should say that....

 

There have been several occasions where Bear has gone to Restaurants during work jollies that I normally would never go; often I find there's nexttobuggerall on the menu that takes my fancy and it ends up being "pick the best of the worst" - which is often a Sirlion Steak (something I'd never spend my own hard-earned on simply because the "cost/enjoyment ratio" just doesn't stack up).  But since the G.E. was picking up the tab.....

 

33 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Probably not in the religious doctrine sense. Matthew was told by a Belgian friend that the reason you only get one biscuit, not two with your coffee in the Netherlands was due to Calvinist practices. 
Tony

 

Is "Calvinist" nothing to do with Calvin & Hobbes?

[Tony_S]

Just now, polybear said:

Is "Calvinist" nothing to do with Calvin & Hobbes?

Only in the sense that Calvin and Hobbes are philosophers, that Bill Watterson used for the characters names. 

[Tony_S]

20 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear has gone to Restaurants during work jollies that I normally would never go; often I find there's nexttobuggerall on the menu that takes my fancy

When we are travelling we often stay in places en-route that are convenient for the motorway/autoroute/autobahn. We usually find something to eat in the restaurant, I don’t like going out looking for food when I have been travelling for many hours. It was in such places that  I learned that faux filet isn’t artificial meat. 
One of the hotels we stayed in Southampton, had a restaurant with the name of a well known chef, it must have been some sort of franchise thing. Anyway they burned my shepherds pie which meant we never ate there again, and encouraged us to find another hotel. Also I am not impressed by the alternative’ “extra cost” dining on cruise ships, despite cheffy endorsements. One of the Roux clan has overseen the on board pub menu on Queen Anne. The Cunard  pubs usually serve classic pub food, so I might have a look at the menu to see how it differs. 

Edited July 11 by Tony_S

[jjb1970]

I work with a gastronaut who must be the most difficult to please eater in the world, underling second class ****. I once rewrote that old Spitting Image song about never having met a nice South African to reference never eaten anything **** likes, however she has selected some insanely good restaurants for office dinners. She doesn't know whether to take me seriously when my suggestion is always to just go somewhere which puts a big portion of hot curry in front of me. 

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

my suggestion is always to just go somewhere which puts a big portion of hot curry in front of me. 

When we return home from holiday I often just want a cup of tea  and some buttered toast. Odd because there is no shortage of tea or toast on many of our holidays. 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

When we return home from holiday I often just want a cup of tea  and some buttered toast. Odd because there is no shortage of tea or toast on many of our holidays. 

Are yes but it's just not the same Tony when you've done it yourself in your own home. It makes all the difference.

Edited July 11 by Winslow Boy

[New Haven Neil]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

The O scale locomotive will give one pleasure for many, many years.

 

Arr.

 

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

There have been several occasions where Bear has gone to Restaurants during work jollies that I normally would never go; often I find there's nexttobuggerall on the menu that takes my fancy and it ends up being "pick the best of the worst" - which is often a Sirlion Steak (something I'd never spend my own hard-earned on simply because the "cost/enjoyment ratio" just doesn't stack up).  But since the G.E. was picking up the tab.....

 

 

 

There is always the catch/shoot your own option, which is considerable cheaper (unless you are on a syndicate shoot).

[Happy Hippo]

7 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Arr.

 

I have to ask...

 

What is a Penzance engine doing in the deepest recesses of the Forest?

 

4534/4564/4567 were Gloucester residents over the years so more likely interlopers.

 

However, she is still a very fine loco and worthy of the finish the cleaners have lavished on her.

[Dave Hunt]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

 I am not impressed by the alternative’ “extra cost” dining on cruise ships, despite cheffy endorsements. One of the Roux clan has overseen the on board pub menu on Queen Anne. The Cunard  pubs usually serve classic pub food, so I might have a look at the menu to see how it differs. 

 

On SAGA ships there is no extra charge for anything - all inclusive means just that from being picked up at your front door to being delivered back there after the cruise.

 

Dave