Yesterday, about midday, I went out to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, only to find that there was no water. Once again our water had been turned off for maintenance on the pipes, without warning. Or so I thought.
On knocking on a door along the landing, I was told that a notice had been put on the message board downstairs warning us of having a short time without water. That's all well and good for those that pass the notice board each day, but for those that sometimes don't leave their flat for a couple of days or for those of us that tend to use the back way out, it's a pretty useless way of giving us pre-warning of something like this. How much longer would it take for whoever pinned the notice up to drop a note through our doors.
Anyway, gasping for a cuppa I thought I would go in search of the culprits that would probably by then be down a hole somewhere on the grounds, to ask how long the water would be off for. On finding them, they told me to give them about an hour but in the meantime I could pop to the dining hall/building and the kitchen staff would fill up a kettle for me.
Great idea! I jogged back to get my kettle and made my way over to the dining building.
The dining hall/building is a purpose built building within the complex but it does also allow outsiders to also use it. Many of the very elderly here use it on a regular basis. I have never bothered to check out this dining area, so had no idea what it was like in there. But while one lady was filling my kettle I chatted to the others over the counter.
They have a sort of old fashioned school dinner set up. There is no choice, one gets what happens to have been cooked that day, but two courses are served for the price of £2:60. Very cheap. The tables are sets of four covers and laid out in the manner of a canteen, and meals are only served for 3 days a week. Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays.
Now here's the rub. One has to put ones name down for a seat, for the specific days one would like to make a regular dining day. When a seat is given up, or someone dies, they phone the top person on the list and that seat is then theirs for as long as they want it.
I wasn't interested in putting my name down for a seat at some point in the future, because I certainly wouldn't enjoy going over there on a regular basis just to have a meal. But, I then asked about taking a meal away. They were thrilled with that one. Absolutely no problem with that. What days would I like to eat??
For the time being I have put myself down for a meal Thursdays and Fridays. I often see Sarah on a Tuesday as that is one of her days off from work so no point in ordering one then on a regular basis, but I am always in, between midday and 2pm, on Thurs and Fri.
I normally wouldn't dream of eating a dinner in the middle of the day but I am very much going to enjoy having a couple of meals a week cooked for me, and me only having to walk a few steps to collect it, lazy mare that I am.
On the way back I told the plumbers that I was no longer angry with them for cutting off my water and leaving me without a cuppa, as they had pointed me towards the canteen, where I am now going to get 2 meals cooked for me a week.
So every cloud does have a silver lining.
I missed the part about the diner and cooked dinners for you Sandy :) Now I'm really curious as to how those meals are?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely great.
ReplyDeleteNot only is it nice not to have to cook myself something 2 or 3 days a week, they are very nicely cooked.
There hasn't been one meal yet that I haven't liked. Yes, there is the odd bit I throw away such today the sweet was semolina and apricots. I don't like apricots but I love semolina, so I just picked the couple of apricots out.
It does feel strange to eat a full meal midday but I just then have a sandwich or beans on toast or something else light in the evening.
I think it's a fantastic idea for complexes such as this to have a canteen within the grounds.
If one has to get old, which we do, it's nice to know there are some benefits don't you think?
Oh yeah I would love to have something like that and think it's a marvelous idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear the meals are nice to; double bonus for you there lol
I grew up having dinner at lunchtime and you know it's a lot healthier that way and food gets better digested etc.
Night time meals should be light but because so many work all day there is no other way around it.
Yup we grew up with our main meal midday or near. These dinners remind me of the old school dinners.
ReplyDeleteReal food and not processed. Mashed and roasted potatoes instead of all the chips they dish up at school nowaday.
Bet they haven't served semolina or rice pudding at schools either for many, many years.
I used to love school dinners when I was a kid. They all seem to take packed lunches now because they can't face what the school dish up at lunch time.