Picture from Trip Advisor
Apart from the recording of the podcast I had a bit of a day off today which involved a spot of record shopping and a breakfast. The much mentioned breakfast podcast will not be going ahead as I don't really see what can be gained from it; I pay for the food out of my own money, not that I would use the PayPal fund for it, and put out a free podcast hoping for donations. To make a breakfast podcast viable I would have to make the money I spent in the cafe to break even. With filming projects finally starting to see the light of day I need to focus on the jobs that are going to be of some use. Not that I don't enjoy doing podcasts, (as a listener I am starting to listen to podcasts more than traditional radio thanks to the convenience of having them there when you want to), but I am conscious of spreading myself too thinly. I also have no objection to putting out free stuff but some things cost money to make so it is nice when people show their appreciation by way of a donation, it's as if I was a busker and the PayPal button is my upturned hat or open guitar case. Besides, I am keeping a close eye on why it was that Leftlion suddenly started asking Facebook followers about breakfasts. I suspect that their food page will have a section devoted to this in their next issue and although they are free to do so as I can't copyright the idea of writing about something, it is a bit of a kick in the teeth that this was an opportunity for a paid gig that I would use to boost the PayPal account. I did consider setting up a separate page for breakfast critique but I have enough blogs to maintain so I will just be writing about it on this main blog and you can access them by clicking the 'breakfast reviewed' tag in the list below.
The point is that I had an all day breakfast today for the first time in a while. Saturday has become a working day for me and this isn't something I wanted to happen as I do a bit of work on Sunday and always try to keep Saturday clear as Mandi and I can then have a day together. Every now and again Mandi volunteers to work on Saturday and chooses to go in for a few hours in the morning so I stay at home in my office to catch up, even though we go out about two o'clock we are still not spending the entire day together.
We decided to indulge in that favourite pastime of combing through charity shops for books and records, this time we chose Hucknall, a market town just a short tram ride away. My vinyl haul wasn't my best (a BBC spin-off LP of the radio comedy I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again) but I did manage to get some additions to my clown collection. Not only that but today I seemed to have several of my obsessions catered for; a ghost sign, an ice-cream van decorated with badly painted cartoon characters, a woefully poor use of apostrophes, and an all day breakfast, it's as if the silly part of my brain had woken up and needed feeding. Some of the photos were taken in Bulwell as we popped through there on the way home.
For breakfast we chanced upon a place called The Sweet Cafe, part old fashioned sweet shop and part cafe. I had already had a bad feeling before we even found a seat, maybe I imagined that the breakfast would be moulded out of the stuff they make seaside rock out of like you can buy in any tacky seafront shop. The breakfast itself was pleasant enough but for £5.50 you didn't really get a great amount of food. On a rectangular plate (this craze for anything other than a round plate really gets on my tits but at least it wasn't served on a block of wood) the breakfast consisted of two rashers (grilled unfortunately), two sausages, one fried egg, beans, mushrooms, a cooked tomato, and two slices of toast. It sounds reasonable but everything was served in small piles on the plate and you had to pay extra for a cup of tea, something that should always be included. While the place was clean and the staff were competent, I felt short changed by this attempt at a full English and probably won't use the place again unless I fancy some cola cubes.
Some research of Hucknall would have been useful as a few doors down from The Sweet Cafe was a proper greasy spoon of a place that no doubt did a better fry up.
Listen to this week's edition of The Sunday Alternative here.
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March housekeeping
To purchase my audio books, albums, and books, please visit my Shop & Donations page.
I am trying to raise the money to extend The Sunday Alternative, read about it here.
We also need to fund a pilot episode of a new music and cookery show, read about it here.
Every penny that I receive via the PayPal button will be used to fund future projects such as podcasts, short films, comedy sketches, documentaries, and more. They will be made available for free online and I will not personally benefit financially. All help is greatly appreciated.
steveEoliver@gmail.com
