I wanna talk Pub Grub....

....since there's been absolutely no crafting at my desk, let me tell you a story. 

My girlfriends and I - you have seen them referred to as 'The Coven'  - a name inferred by the Enthusiastic Educator's husband (a very brave man indeed)-  have for a few years, celebrated our birthdays, by getting together once a month, for a nice pub meal and gifts. It's lovely.  At Christmas, we do the same and for as many years it's been a table booked at the same place. 

Free photo courtesy of Winnond.

 Because the food is great, the menu vast and the service friendly and timely.  This Christmas, not for the first time, we were forced to comment on the general lack of lighting, acknowledged that the masses of Christmas lights strung about the place were indeed atmospheric, if a little lacking in erm, light. (And actually on that particular night, a lot of lights going off unexpectedly type action..we suspected fairy light overload.)  In fact, we had pre-ordered from the Christmas menu, so we kinda put up with it and a jolly evening was had.  Now, fast forward to last weekend.  Mr Dunnit, my one true love and all round best ever person, had a birthday.  When I asked if he'd like to feast on some home cooked delicacy involving hours of preparation and toil and therefore the necessity to enjoy and be grateful, he suggested that we went to this same pub, so that he could taste for himself why we 'The Coven' liked it.  And so I must admit to some reservation when I made the reservation.  I was right.  We had to use our phones to light the Menus.  Of course, I took this up with our waitress. I of course alluded to our 'old eyes', but really, this was a bit much. She expressed surprise at our discomfort...and gave us more time to wrestle with the choices that we could actually read.  Rather unsurprisingly then, our enthusiasm for our meal was a little coloured - indeed, Miss Dunnit couldn't actually see well enough to distinguish the colour of the leaves in her mixed salad..red lettuce leaves or green....and oh no - is that beetroot or not? It sort of ends up making you cross.  So, when came bill paying, I mentioned it again, adding that we were skipping dessert because we couldn't be bothered to battle in the dark with menus or not being able to see the food properly,  and I said, sadly it would put us off returning. The young woman said that she would tell management. She came back with the credit card machine and then had to step away from our table to gain enough light to see the screen on the machine .  And without a hint of irony, she said "I've spoken to the Manager.  He says the lights are deliberately low to create atmosphere and if you want them, they have torches behind the reception counter'.Well now, colour me dim....but rather than buying torches and expecting us to swallow the dark-equals-good-atmosphere idea, wouldn't it be a better thing to complement the fab food with decent lighting and surroundings to match...that's atmosphere, isn't it?