r8shell
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2010
- Messages
- 25,545
Sorry your back is acting up again, Jack.If they had called it 'Bombay Fish', I don't think there'd have been a problem!He must have been kind of crazy! I doubt anyone under 60 could even remember what Bombay Duck was!
T-shirt weather here, nice, but a little unsettling!
Good for you Mike, it's nice to see that interesting knife again
Hope everyone is having a good dayI decided to get a bus over to nearby Harrogate. I had a couple of things to do there, and the journey is very scenic. I took a few pics from the front of the top-deck, but they're pretty blurred. I saw a herd of deer, but after I'd zoomed in, the image was just rubbish
After I reached Harrogate, I visited an antiques centre, and had a good look round, buying a couple of vintage razors, and a few other things. My lower back has been hurting a little since Thursday, but nothing too bad. However, when I dropped to my right knee, to take a look at a knife in the bottom of one of the cabinets, I was shocked to find that I couldn't stand back up on my left (sciatic) leg. I made several frustrating attempts, and fortunately among all the expensive glass and pottery, I spotted a girder going up to the roof, and managed to pull myself up on it. Afterwards, I noticed that I was limping worse, and struggling to get up and down stairs, with increased discomfort in my lower back, and some sciatic pain. I better not go down with sciatica again, or I'll be reenacting a scene from a certain Martin Scorsese film with Tool Man and one of his large bench vices!
I decided to go for breakfast in a nearby pub. It was cheap, but not very good
In a second-hand bookshop, I found a copy of Max Hastings' hefty tome on the Vietnam War. I've had my eye on it since it came out, but balked at paying £30. A fiver was a better deal, though I'm not sure when I'll get time to read it, and I don't have the luggage allowance to take it away with me on holiday!
I had already passed several war memorials on the way to Harrogate, but was only able to get a photo of the main one in the centre of Harrogate.
After doing a bit more shopping, I set off on my return journey, and decided to stop for coffee and cake at a suburb a couple of miles up the road from me. I called in a cafe I've been to before, which used to be OK, but it sure has gone downhill. Inside, there were about a dozen tables, but every one had a 'reserved' sign. Apart from two old ladies, just on their way out, the place was empty though. I squeezed onto the only free table, squashed into a corner, at which point a sullen twenty-something came over, and tossed a menu on my table. I told him I just wanted a coffee, and asked if they had any cake. The dullard responded with, "I don't know."
Jack: "Well do you have any or not?"
Dullard (vacuously): "Do you want me to go and find out?"
Oh no, don't bother mate, you only %@#&£$% work here!(I managed to limit my reaction to, "Yes!")
It turned out they didn't have any cake, but at this point, the dullard's co-worker, trotted over with a tall glass of what looked like brown water, a good bit of which she managed to spill over the table, before wandering off again. I lifted the glass out of the puddle of spilled 'coffee', and then noticed that there was no sugar on the tables, so I had to get up again, and go and ask for some.
Jack: "Could I have some sugar please?"
Dullard's co-worker: "What?"
Jack: "Do you have any sugar?"
DCW: "Brown sugar?"
Jack: "ANY sugar is fine."
DCW: "How many?"
Jack: "Two please"
Multiple locks were opened, along with the huge creaking door of the storeroom, and 2 sugar sachets were issued
I added the sugar, but the 'coffee' was undrinkable, so I put on my jacket, and went back to the counter. By this time, another customer had come in, and been told they did not accept cash!
Jack: "How much do I owe you for the coffee?"
DCW (disinterested): "Was everything alright for you?"
Jack: "No, it wasn't."
DCW: "What?"
Jack: "It was terrible. You used to be able to make decent coffee here, what happened?"
DCW: "What?"
Jack (praying for Samuel L Jackson to enter): "That coffee is undrinkable, which is why it's still sitting over there on the table. How much do I owe you?"
DCW (proffering card machine): "£2.50."
I counted out that exact amount in change, laid it on the counter, and left. I go in a lot of cafes, I'm always polite, and I tip well, but I'll be surprised if that dump is open the next time I go past it. I certainly won't be going in
Good on ya for paying with coins. Odds are you'll be banned from returning (as if you ever would) for non payment since the dullards probably don't know how to count cash. If I wanted bad coffee served rudely, I'd have it at home!
I wonder why they didn't just call it "Bombay Fish" 
Still waiting on the scan?
