Scones at the Tea-shop

Yesterday, with some time to kill between teaching and playing with the quartet at a wedding, I found myself in need of lunch. Not just any lunch, but a lunch which involved me travelling in time. Well, sort of.

Yesterday Sarah and I dined out in a tea-shop in Chepstow. It was a lovely tea-shop, as tea-shops go. In fact, it was everything I expect a tea-shop to be. Nice, solid wooden furniture, floral wallpaper, floral tableclothes, and old waitresses. The food itself was lovely – stable British grub in the form of omelettes and toasties. I was a little taken aback when I perused the drinks menu – I was a little saddened to find what I call the “Starbucks effect”, whereby everywhere feels compelled to offer lattes, mochas and all manner of coffee-related beverages.

But it wasn’t the food that amused me, but the conversation. The tea-shop was full. More precisely, it was full of people over 60. This meant loud conversations taking place around me which made me laugh out loud. Here are some snippets:

“Well, the coach leaves at 9, and they said it’ll be a modern coach…cos you need a modern coach for that kind of holiday…”

“I’m feeling a lot better. The diarrhea came back for a time yesterday…”

“Well, she said that…but I’m not sure”

And my personal favourite from the two old ladies sat on the table beside our own:

“Well, she’s been under the weather for a while…I told her not to, but she insisted on doing the beds…she’s not 100% cos she still hasn’t been able to get out of bed for a while now, but she’s getting on well”

Not 100%?!? Let me tell you, if I was unable to get out of bed due to illness I’d consider myself far from 100%. 20-percent, 30-percent at a push, possibly considering hospitalisation!

But then that’s just the problem with the young these days…
…Oh God, it’s aged me…