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| Coffee time in Whistable |
Alas, our first holiday meal proves memorable for all the wrong reason. We’ve booked in to a Premier Inn at Herne Bay to explore the Kent coast. The Premier Inn itself is clean and efficient with polite, helpful staff; so helpful, in fact, that when our online reservation at the next door 'Table Table' appears to have failed, the receptionist remakes the booking and even comes to our room to assure us we have a table for three at 6.30pm.
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| Beach huts at Herne Bay |
‘Sorry guys, nothing under that name,’ says the restaurant manager when we present ourselves. ‘Grab yourselves a drink while you wait and I’ll try to slot you in as soon as possible.’ Because it’s the first night of our holiday and we don’t want to kick off with a row we try to ‘grab ourselves’ a drink. Unfortunately this entails a fifteen minute wait at the understaffed bar. Grabbing ourselves somewhere pleasant to sit is even more of a challenge since almost every table is covered with a detritus of dirty glasses and crisp crumbs.
Needless to say that when we finally get to eat, my meal is the worst I have had in a very long time with flaccid greasy potato wedges and disagreeable greens that smell and look as if they’ve visited several other plates before mine. What really makes my blood boil though is seeing a steady stream of customers, many of whom are elderly and some of whom are infirm, all dressed up for their big night out and watching their faces fall as it dawns on them that the whole pack of cards has come tumbling down and they won’t be eating any time soon. It’s a shameful way to treat people.
I could go on… but all that needs to be said is that our polite complaints were answered with a polite apology, but nothing else (hey, at least we weren’t offered a free meal!) and the next day, after searching Trip Advisor, we found an absolutely delightful Thai restaurant, 'The Coconut Tree' where the three of us enjoyed a fabulous evening for less than the price of a meal at Table Table.
Our ghastly first evening aside, the memories we made this holiday were of sun, laughter and the joy of English seaside resorts.
Needless to say that when we finally get to eat, my meal is the worst I have had in a very long time with flaccid greasy potato wedges and disagreeable greens that smell and look as if they’ve visited several other plates before mine. What really makes my blood boil though is seeing a steady stream of customers, many of whom are elderly and some of whom are infirm, all dressed up for their big night out and watching their faces fall as it dawns on them that the whole pack of cards has come tumbling down and they won’t be eating any time soon. It’s a shameful way to treat people.
I could go on… but all that needs to be said is that our polite complaints were answered with a polite apology, but nothing else (hey, at least we weren’t offered a free meal!) and the next day, after searching Trip Advisor, we found an absolutely delightful Thai restaurant, 'The Coconut Tree' where the three of us enjoyed a fabulous evening for less than the price of a meal at Table Table.
Our ghastly first evening aside, the memories we made this holiday were of sun, laughter and the joy of English seaside resorts.
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| Whistable Harbour |
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| All set for a picnic on the beach at Sandgate |
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| Prospect Cottage and garden, former home to Derek Jarman (taken from a distance) |
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| View from within the Turner Contemporary at Margate |
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| A hot day in Ramsgate |
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| Now... |
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| And then! |
Comments
It was wasn't it, Jane? It made me look at Shearings coaches in a new light - great slogan and it seemed to some up my thinking... although I thought it before I saw the coach... before I become the woman who took her philosophy from the back of a bus. Margate is fab - and the Turner Contemporary is free. Well done them.
Kate, the Thai restaurant was so lovely - and the complimentary dessert was a real treat... we've got to save more before we can swap Herne Bay for Thailand though!
(Keep your notes and covert that first holiday evening into a scene in a future novel. From the point of view of someone working in the Table Table kitchen and also feeling awful about what was being sent out to the restaurant tables.)
Fun to see photographs of your Ma, and all those boats, too. Looks as if the sun was shining.
I read an article in The New Yorker magazine this summer about memories. I learned that every time we access one of our memories, examine it and then sort of re-file it, there's a great possibility that the memory will be altered. That's good if it helps us to overcome some past traumatic memory, but I'm not so sure about what the process might do to more pleasant ones.
As autumns officially begins, I send you best season's greeetings. xo
Cara it really was lovely to revisit that stretch of coast. Being in Wales, we rarely go there now and it made such a change. Thank you.