Pass

“You know the woman who used to run this place?” the customer asked when I took out her order.
I was considering how best to answer as there have been so many women who’ve managed the tearooms over the years since 1983, but then she went on...
“Did she have a friend who was Welsh?”

Unexpected coach party...

...in many ways.
Not least because it came from 1936:

I asked the driver if he owns the magnificent, green lady.
He does.
Does he rent it out? No, he said, he just takes friends and family on the occasional trip.
Could I be his friend?

Accessory.

“A skinny latte please,” she said, “and a hot chocolate.
Actually, make the hot chocolate skinny too. He’ll never know.”

Caffeine hit.

Yesterday I started to fulfil an order that had been taken at the counter.

Among the items “flat white with an extra shot”.

So that’s three shots of coffee. 

I queried it with Liv who’d taken the order. 

She confirmed that the chap wanted three shots.

I took the tray out myself. 

I had to see the man who wanted a three shot coffee. 

He was Australian. On holiday in the UK with his family.

“The coffee isn’t strong enough in this country,” he said, “I haven’t had a good one since we’ve been here.”

I told him that if it wasn’t strong enough I could always add a fourth shot of espresso...

After a while I looked over. 

He raised his thumb and then told me it was the best he’d had since he’d arrived.

Faint praise perhaps but I took it and did a little victory dance.

Riley Rally

Yesterday we opened early to serve bacon rolls and coffee to a group of Riley car enthusiasts who used the tearooms as a starting point for their treasure hunt.

Although I would suggest they’ve already found the treasure:

A bit of fluff

A new plague is upon us. One we’ve never faced before. 

The poplar seed.

Who knows why (tree enthusiasts may) but the garden is covered in fluffy, catkin-like seeds. The air is full of the flying fluff from them. It’s getting everywhere. 

We clean the tables and a few minutes later they’re covered again. 

They’ve even had the audacity to land in cups of tea and bowls of asparagus soup (yes, that time of year again).

This afternoon the man who usually mows the tearooms lawn sent his lovely dad to do the job. As he came closer to the tables under the trees he caused a snowstorm of fluff which sent customers running. When I went out to ask him to postpone his mow he looked crestfallen,

“My son said you might make me a cup of tea if I did this. I guess I’ve scuppered that now.”