Olympics

I can't believe that the 2008 Olympics have started. I was there 4 years ago, at the Athens Olympics, and I'm sure I'll be there in 4 years time, for the London Olympics. I don't have many photos from them on this computer, but here is one. The Beijing Olympics just aren't quite the same, I wish they were being held somewhere else. Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to watching some of the events, in particular the gymnastics.

I have had a busy few days. I went to see The Dark Knight on Wednesday which was enjoyable but violent and too long. I am still saddened by Heath Ledger's death, he was the best thing about the movie. Last night, I happened to eat out again, this time at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Veggie Hubby loves to eat burgers, as he prefer being Meaty Hubby but ends up being Veggie Hubby most of the time because of me. He now has an aim in life: to try every single option on the Gourmet Burger Kitchen menu, and has ticked off two so far. The vegetarian options are quite strange (but good) as really they are mainly just vegetables inside burger buns, rather than veggie burgers. My burger was sooo tall, it was a shame my camera was at home. Then, from tomorrow night I shall be gerbil-sitting my sister's gerbils Horace and Hermes, for a few days. Aww.

Eating in

It has been in the news recently that due to the credit crunch people prefer to eat a restaurant-style meal in rather than a meal out. Domino's pizza has soaring profits (but I wouldn't have a Domino's pizza, it is far better to get a supermarket one in my opinion- cheaper, healthier, tastier and more ethical). VH and I bought a new M&S promotion - 2 dine for £10. This includes a main meal, side dish, dessert and bottle of wine. We chose roast sweet potato cakes with a mint and yoghurt dressing (actually, there was no choice as it was all that was left!) and roast Mediterranean vegetables with a balsamic vinegar dressing. For dessert we had profiteroles but saved half for tomorrow. We also had a French wine called 'Froglet'... I find the name quite amusing. It was a tasty meal, and good value. We are lucky to have an M&S just around the corner from us, but we rarely go in there as it is generally just ready meals these days, which I suppose is kind of what we had tonight. I have also added a picture of some pretty carnations that VH bought me the other day. Flowers that are nicer than the ones in Zizzi.

Personal services not required

Oops, I haven't blogged for nearly a week. Work is destroying my blog I feel; when I was briefly unemployed I was a better blogger. It is sooo hot which is good, as it is July.:-) However... Veggie Hubby and I are slowly roasting in our flat. It is so hot and even with the windows open all of the time, it doesn't seem to make any difference. What else has happened in my exciting life this week? Well, I took my car to the garage for it's expensive service and MOT. It passed the test but has a rusty front brake and all four tyres have cracks in them, and one has a nail in it! It doesn't sound great, does it?

On Wednesday night, I watched a reality TV show called 'Personal Services Required' about people looking for domestic help. There are two families per episode, who trial three domestic helpers each. Some of the people on this series have been hilarious, the funniest was that one woman was looking for a housekeeper and asked for him to accompany her to Tescos wearing a chauffeur's hat! The woman in the documentary yesterday employed nine staff including three personal secretaries.

It made me think about domestic help... I really don't think people should pay other people to look after their houses, and should do their own housework. When my parents used to have a cleaner, I found it a real invasion of privacy. However, that was just for a morning a week, but these people who clearly don't need cleaners and are around the house themselves should, I feel do their own cleaning. It is just lazy, and the people in this documentary seem to have delusions of grandeur. It is sickening that they have money they can just throw away by paying a housekeeper's salary. For some things, I feel I have no choice but to pay someone e.g. taking my car for it's service. For other things that I can do myself (or Veggie Hubby can do) I feel I should do myself. Not that I could afford £18K from my salary to employ a housekeeper anyway..

Veggie Hubby often says that he 'likes to be served' meaning that he likes to go to restaurants. I like restaurants too, but I really feel they should just be for special occasions, as you can make your own. I don't feel the need to be served. This may make me sound a bit like a Communist, but I feel that everyone should be treated equally, there shouldn't be hierarchies where some people are more important than others. However, in any job there is always a management structure and hierarchy.

Dirty Dancing and Zizzi

I had a great day today. I am not sure if Veggie Hubby had such a nice day though. I bought the special edition of Dirty Dancing this afternoon and watched the film for the hundredth time tonight (ok, I am exaggerating, but only slightly). I think it made Veggie Hubby want to vomit. I just love this movie, it is one of the few films that I can watch over and over and still enjoy. Tomorrow, it is time for all of the extras... I'm sure VH will be thrilled! I hinted a lot that I wanted this for my birthday and for Christmas last year, but to no avail, so I decided that I would have to take matters into my own hands and buy it for myself. Haha.

Veggie Hubby and I also ate out tonight, which we haven't done for a couple of months. We went to the Italian restaurant, Zizzi. Veggie Hubby refused to go to this restaurant for a long time because of it's (unmentionable!) meaning in French. I persuaded him to go there for Valentine's day 2006 as we both love Italian food and I was curious about it. It was a big mistake as my heart-shaped ravioli was burnt, and the service was very very slow. We were out shopping today, and there wasn't much choice of restaurants so I suggested that we go to Zizzi (a different branch of the same chain we went to in 2006). We thought we might reconciliate ourselves with it, and whilst we had a good time, I don't think we will ever go there again.

I ordered a calzone, which I have never tried before, and it was very burnt. I should have complained, but didn't. When a waitress walked past, she said that she would get a fresh one for me, as I was paying for it and I shouldn't be paying for that. So she kindly went and got another one for me, and also got a fresh pasta dish for VH so we could eat at the same time. She also offered us a complimentary drink each. My new calzone looked fine on the plate, but underneath it was also burnt so I just ate the top half. However, VH enjoyed his chicken pasta and we shared the most delicious dessert ever, an amaretto cheesecake. Mmm, it was better than chocolate.

Bank holiday weekend

Saturday - Veggie Hubby and I watched Eurovision, and had particular fun as a) We had some really nice tapas with it including Quorn picnic eggs (which are new and very yummy) stuffed vine leaves and nachos and b) We very sadly scored each entry using the BBC score card, for song, performance and dance routine. This resulted in some terrible entries scoring quite well because of having a dance routine, and funny costumes. My favourite entries this year were Armenia, Greece, Denmark and the Latvian pirates. I wasn't that impressed with the winner, Russia.

I wasn't expecting the UK to do well and surprise, surprise they came joint last. I think they did badly obviousbly because of the politics, but also because Andy performed early on (the recency effect: it is always an advantage to be later on, Russia were the penultimate act so were remembered more) and his song just wasn't that exciting. I do think politics ruins Eurovision, but it is still cheesy fun.

Sunday - Went to visit my sister. We played with her little gerbils, who move around very quickly, and scare Veggie Hubby, which is funny. He didn't even like watching me holding them. We also went out for a meal in a pub which was disappointing because they seemed to run out of everything. I chose my meal for the garlic bread, but when I got it, there was no sign of any garlic bread. Veggie Hubby complained for me, and they said they didn't have any, but could give me a slice of bread instead, so I got a slightly stale slice of white bread. Veggie Hubby had ordered a roast dinner, but the turkey he got was the smallest slice of turkey I had ever seen! It was practically vegetarian.

Bank Holiday Monday - It is such a miserable, rainy bank holiday weekend. We went to the supermarket, and got oily filling up my car tyres with air as they were very flat.

Tuesday - I get an extra 'discretionary' day off tomorrow. I shall spend it going to a new shopping centre, and buying some new clothes hopefully. Also, there is a new cinema too, so we'll go and see the new Indiana Jones movie. The thought of it bores me, but VH is very keen to go as Cate Blanchett is in it....

Caffe Torelli

I love coffee shops, but I detest rude customer service. I experienced some bad service yesterday when I visited a little tea room with some friends in beautiful Cambridge. One friend ordered a cake, and asked to replace the ice cream with custard. She got the cake with (cheap, instant) custard rather than ice cream as requested, but then got charged additionally for the custard! So, our other friend and I egged her on to complain out of principle. The staff became very confused, thinking she was complaining about the added service charge rather than the custard charge, but with the help of four (!) waitresses, it eventually got sorted out.

Then, this afternoon I went our for a coffee with Veggie Hubby in a new cafe (Caffe Torelli) and experienced rude customer service. In October/November I was working in a job that sometimes involved dealing with angry members of the public complaining about very petty things, so perhaps I am guilty of doing the same here, but there is something quite satisfying about writing a complaints letter. Here it is (as I don't want to write out the whole situation again):

I have never been into a Caffe Torelli before, so was keen to try it as an alternative to Costa/Starbucks, especially as it is a new cafe.

I was very disappointed by the way the staff dealt with their customers. One employee was rude to the lady in front of me when she asked for a cake 'from the middle' of the display. It was obvious to me what she was asking for, she meant the cake in the middle, but the employee couldn't understand her, he was pointing to different cakes around the edges, and laughed at her, saying 'perspectives can vary as to what is the middle.'

I got served by a different lady whose attitude was also very bad. I noticed that she had charged me £2.50 for my eat-in regular mocha rather than £2.25. I told her she had charged me incorrectly, and she was very rude towards me. She said in a very patronising way that there were different prices for eating in and eating out. I understood that, but she was treating me like I was totally stupid, using big hand gestures, and seemed quite aggressive. Actually an eat-out regular mocha is £2.00, and an eat-in mocha is £2.25. I eventually got her to realise her mistake, but she was unapologetic. Although the mocha was fine, I did not enjoy it due to the way I had been treated. I also noticed that when I was drinking it, she was in a bad mood all the time, shaking her head, not smiling, and shouting at the other staff members. I shall not be going back.

I have never felt compelled to make a complaint about customer service before, but I do think your staff need more training about how to treat customers and act more professionally in public.

London Tuesday

I just got back from a day out in London. Veggie Hubby came into London with me, which was fun. I had to attend a seminar in the afternoon, but decided to spend some extra time in London after work.

VH and I wandered around Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square, then went out to Pizza Express for dinner. It was a nice meal, but there was surprisingly little vegetarian choice, and even things that should have been vegetarian, like an aubergine parmagiana and a spinach and ricotta cannelloni weren't. Also, there were a lot of people eating out in that particular restaurant that we randomly happened upon on a Tuesday night. I would never have imagined that so many people would be eating out on a Tuesday. I also noticed that most people were in groups of two women, and that we were one of the only male-female couples there. I do miss going out for lunch with friends.

Anyway, it felt good to be back in London, and when I was on the Underground I felt like I'd never been away, despite having not been into London for over a year.

Dating Veggie Hubby

Just came back from a date with Veggie Hubby (of course!). We went for a yummy meal at an Italian restaurant a few steps from home that I have always been very curious about. I don't think we've been for a proper date since we married, but think we should go out more often, as just because we're now married doesn't mean that we shouldn't date anymore, right? This was our first married date I believe (I don't think that going for the occasional drink or pub meal counts). I had a glass of white wine and am feeling a bit tipsy now.... Veggie Hubby is probably more tipsy than me as had he two drinks, but then he is more accustomed to drinking alcohol than me, as he appreciates it more. The main meal was ok, I had a mushroom ravioli (not many vegetarian options) and almost Veggie Hubby had veal with mushrooms. The waitress then brought out a large trolley filled with a tempting selection of absolutely delicious looking desserts. How could we could we resist? We shared a slice of delicious chocolate cake with cream, which was one of the best cakes I have tasted as it had chunks of chocolate in it mmmm. That was certainly the highlight of the meal. Overall the meal was quite over-priced I think, but definitely worth it once in a while.