Last week I had 3 really bad experiences- some just amusing- some painful:

Buskers

I rarely give money to buskers, unless they are talented or make me laugh in some way. I’ve blogged before about the guy in San Francisco who held a sign with ‘abuse me’- I gave him money for a picture. The odd time there’s someone really good with a Sax on the tube and I’ll drop them a fiver (I do believe in talent). However, last Thursday I had the experience of seeing the worst buskers I have ever seen in Norwich.

I wanted to take a picture, but whilst I was setting up I spotted that the talented individuals spotted me so felt a little nervous. Picture the scene: some random kids music playing, a fat lady (sorry, obese to be fair) with an ice cream container in her hand looking for money, and a guy with two puppets just shaking them up and down. No effort whatsoever, the puppets looked like they were having an epileptic fit rather than dancing. It really has to be the worst experience I have had.

Dinner – Jamie’s

I vowed I’d never go into this place in Cambridge. Now I don’t have a specific grudge against Mr Oliver, unlike my fellow Glaswegian – read the comment here. However, passed on Friday night and felt the need to go in. Poor experience indeed. Steak arrived, after nearly 45 mins wait, with everything I had asked to be removed. Chips were clearly from another Scotsman Mr McCain. Overall a very poor experience never to be repeated. It’s not surprise there is no longer a queue outside the place.

Pub

Simple task in Cambridge – order an orange juice at a bar. What arrives, a small Schweppes bottle of OJ, no glass ! He asks me for the money, I say “what about a glass” (thinking to myself, have you lived on a building site for your life ?). He supplies a glass, not asking if I wanted any ice. I left in disgust a few minutes later- it felt like being served by an alien who’d never been in a pub before…