Having made our way upstairs, we ordered drinks and found our table. It was noted that there was a chair lift for the stairs and people were under orders to keep the alcohol intake in check such that no one tried to see how many people we could sit in the seat and go up and down the lift. Of course we are all responsible men and keep our drinking in check. Anyway, first amusing moment was when we sat down. It was noticed by Dan that his dad's (Pastor Ian) feet didn't touch the floor. Those that realised did say that maybe the chairs are slightly taller than usual. Thanks for that one Dan, I'm sure Dad will return the observation at some point. Early discussion was about Face Space or My Bebo, or whatever it is called. Apparently it got quite confusing when Dan (yes that man again) changed his profile and at one point Mum and Dad were writing on behalf of him. This just shows how careful you have to be with social network tools - no one has realised that I am in fact a woman writing these blogs!
This month there were various words of wisdom and advice. In no particular order, Keith said "Gillette (it should be noted that other manufactures also make razors) is run by women, because woman want men to look like them". Pastor Ian said, "6 months after the first spray of deodorant, boys start to look at themselves". "More people are kicked to death by a donkey than die in an air crash", nope can't remember who said that. "Thicksotropic Liquid", no that's not a posh name for a Lassi. Must have been the Prof to throw that one in.
Anyway, while all this intellectual and stimulating conversation was going on, someone said, where are the starters? It was noted that they were a little slow coming. Then it would have been rude for someone not to bring to the attention the really bad music that was coming from somewhere. Not that it really needed bring to any ones attention. It's hard to describe really, it was like there was someone around the corner tuning up an instrument really badly. It was so bad that it was actually amusing, a bit like some of the "hopefuls" that go on Britain's got the X Factor. So at some point we ate the starters and the main course.
There was a strange incident with Bill whole paying for a drink - he wasn't charge enough and the waiter came back and asked for more money (the princely sum of 0.95p), then didn't have change of a pound. All a bit silly when there was a large group of people spending a lot of money.
Whilst all sitting around enjoying each others company, we did discuss at one point that old fashioned practice of families sitting down together to eat their meals. Sadly many people are eating at different times, or in front of the telly and the opportunity for quality time as a family hearing what each others day has been like is disappearing from many "modern" families.
So, to the scoring ... Not good I'm afraid with people scoring quite differently on some aspects depending on what they had. Quantity received 3.71, Quality 3.57, Price 3.42. The big failure was staff getting only 2 (Service was very slow) and ambiance only 2.14, change the music guys. The total was 14.84, which is the lowest score ever given. While the score wasn't good, it has to be said that we had a good time due to the company and the music was so bad it made us smile. It should be noted that as usual the views expressed here are entirely our own opinion and represent what we experienced on the night.
Next month, a return to somewhere that has had its very highs and lows, with a Bill promise that it will be back on a high. Bye for now ...