Wetherspoons with a like minded friend

 Lunch was squeezed in ahead of my flu jab.  Wetherspoons provided an entirely acceptable venue, a perfectly pleasant ham and cheese panini, a wrap suitable for a vegan and a window seat.   One of us got the view of the road, the other the interior.  I doubt either of us paid any attention to either view - far too busy yapping!.  

There was a brief moment when we considered somewhere else and I am sure we will go to that venue at some point (that point not being when one or both of us are under time constraints with appointments in town).  I can’t say it was easy to find somewhere round our way with obvious/a variety of vegan options.  That may be a local thing but then again…...  I am not a vegan, I have no allergies and as long as no one is trying to feed me offal (other than liver and kidney - they’re fine, tripe, brains and heart not so much), exotic meats (no snake, no squirrel, no alligator and no ostrich), frankly I even view eels and snails with some suspicion ie “did I miss order?” and I would prefer people did not try and feed me parsnips (don’t tell me they are ‘sweet chips’-they are not the majestic potato, they are cattle feed and I am old enough to make my own decisions on my vegetables) I’m fairly relaxed about what is on my plate.  Though I have been known to eat the evil parsnip on occasions).  I will very happily go face down in a sea food platter though I did have an unfortunate experience with a whelk once.  I was very young and it is possible they served me a pencil eraser in shell packaging.  

I sense I may have digressed again.  I didn’t see any of those on the menu.  The big positive was that there were vegan options  (more than one) and they did not require searching for.  Not for the first time I wondered why Wetherspoons attracts the criticism it does from some quarters.  

They seem to have ditched their steaks.  That’s a shame but I do understand it is difficult to cook these to everyone’s particular preference.  Can’t say I ever had a problem with my ‘rare’ order but I get there is a range.  

The waitress had a ring through her nose.  I have certain views (some say Victorian) but if I got too picky re that these days I would never eat or drink out and she seemed a perfectly pleasant girl.  

I once had a jacket potato with a five bean chilli which only had 3 beans in it - no, I don’t mean varieties, I mean actual beans but that was a one off a long time ago on a very busy Friday in Brentwood, Essex.  A friend once had a vegetarian breakfast that was cold.  I don’t think the 2nd attempt was much warmer but that was a very busy Saturday morning in Leeds and there were a lot of stag and hen dos (and I do mean ‘a lot!’).  Same friend had a very unfortunate and highly distressing experience when her drink was spiked.  That could, have course, have happened anywhere and she isn’t holding it against them.  In contrast another friend still raves about the Eggs Benedict she got a couple of years ago in The Windmill at Stansted Airport.  Best ever apparently.  It is acknowledged to have been a quiet day/time but still - best ever eggs Benedict at an airside Wetherspoons, who would have thought!

Bean deficit chilli aside it’s always been fine for me and the prices, both food and drink, do not offend my mean streak.  That’s a Board that appears to have got its business model broadly on point even if it does provoke something of a Marmite response from some!

Anyway, enough of food and back to my friend.  It has been a while (too many months) and WhatsApp messages only go so far.  I know I am not alone in having retirement on my mind.  I come across like minded people, if not daily, at least a few times each week.  This was, however, a bit of a surprise.  She’s 62, teaches yoga and does some ad hoc shifts at local libraries (not yoga).  Her husband is a few years younger.  Last I heard there were no plans to wind things down but now it appears she has gone some way to reduce her yoga classes and very shortly it will be down to one evening class a week.  I got the impression that is going to be her ‘fun’ social group session rather than whatever ‘maintenance’ yoga she does at home.  

Reading between the lines (I didn’t cross examine her, I was far too envious and slightly stunned for that) she fell early summer and her knee has taken a lot longer to recover than these things used to.  Throw in a couple of friends with age gap relationships who have found things a little more challenging than they used to be and  adjustments are underway.  Said plans are sounding pretty well thought out to me.  In part this may be because the main threads, if not the detail, do rather seem to echo our own plans, so I have an obvious bias!  

It was a very pleasurable lunch and we really do need to try and find more time to follow up.  That is rather easier said than done though since she seems to be ahead of me maybe she can source the venue?  Maybe we should try the arguably “posher” place but company is key and this experience showed that we could go some distance to find something better than a Wetherspoons for a meet up.