The manor of the four seasons

Wow.

That's all.

Bona fide pie

There is, in Reading, a restaurant of sorts called Sweeney & Todds.

It is remarkable for a number of reasons, including the fact that it has changed little in the 15 or so years that I have been aware of it, seemingly remaining under the same ownership, with the same staff, and serving the same things. Yes, the prices have changed (upwards, but not by that much), but the portion sizes have not gone down, and the quality of the food is the same as ever.

Their stock in trade: pies.

And what pies they are! Decently sized, well-pastried in the best kind of flaky way, filled with the right balance of thick and pleasingly-tasty filling. Sensible, uncomplicated, honest pies. And even better; rightly priced.

The daily list of pies is read out at the table for every group, and may contain such delights as Steak and Mushroom, Beef and Horseradish, Five Nations, Vickers (named for the butchers that provides the meat), Game pie, Venison and Wild Boar, Cheese and Vegetable, Steak and Oyster, Chicken Tikka, Chicken and something or other...too many to remember after a pint or two from the bar. Besides, tradition dictates that someone in the group must ask what the third one was, to the endless amusement of the serving staff.

Add some potatoes and a side of vegetables (half and half cauliflower cheese and coleslaw is always a popular choice) and you have a meal fit for a king, queen, tsar, emperor.

The place itself is, simply, unpretentious. The walls are interestingly odd, the seating areas small and tending towards the cramped side of cosy. But no one cares, because the place continues to do what it has always done; serve that basic human need for pie. And how!

Better yet, the pasties and pastries and pies themselves are available to buy cold, to take home, for half the price in the restaurant. Who could ask for more?

Toilet bread?!

There's a bar of Dove cream bar soap on the bathroom shelf. Idly reading the box whilst cleaning my teeth, as one does, I noticed the several different languages printed on the side.

It seems that the French translation is "pain de toilette", which as anyone could tell you, means "bread of toilet", or "toilet bread". Or even "bread toilet".

Cheeps

Presumably available with feesh...?

Life gets in the way

...not of life, but of blogging.

I suppose there's a great deal of satisfaction to be taken from the fact that I'm too busy living my life, collecting rich experiences about which to blog, to actually record those experiences in the blog format.

But it's nice to have the reflective time, too, to half-remember my days through the editorial eye, and the filter of self-satisfaction that this format provides.

So here I am, catching up with my memories, updating all those drafts that I began oh-so-long ago, and trying to make them sound at least as funy as they seemed at the time.

Winter magic

It's a beautiful time of year.

Only yesterday, I left the office in sufficient time to see the sunset - or at least the last few golden rays still peeping over the horizon, meaning that I strolled to my car in the pale light, with a smile on m yface and a lift in my step.

This morning, I watched the sunrise in my rear-view, the just-past-full moon in front of me in mottled red-blue cloudy skies.

Winter certainly knows how to get it right.

Grapefruit Soap

There's something very disturbing about the smell of grapefruit soap.

Except for this one detail - and I realise that I do sound like a picky old bugger - the hotel I stayed at last night was pleasant enough, if a little soulless. It's quite new, you see, having opened last August, and whilst clean and well-decorated - in a very nice setting, to boot - it does lack a certain character.

But its target market is probably the conference crowd - it's the only hotel of that sort of size in the area - and it does fit that bill admirably well. And given that a conference of sorts is the chief reason I was there, and also given that I was not paying for my room, then I really am staring into the mouth of an equine present by making the comment above.

It did smell bloody strange, though.