A Tesco stack

A week ago we went across to the other island, that is to say the Isle of Wight, to see what we could find there.

A bit late in the day we noticed that the ferry operator had converted the 'ZZ' of our car number to '22' and we thought that maybe we had better put them right. Rather to my surprise, I was able to do this in a couple of minutes, shortly after they opened their lines at 09:00 - and as it turned out it was just as well that we did, as they use computers to read one's car number on entry. Pit stop at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park for £2.50. On the ferry at 14:10, take-off at 14:15. At which point there was some anguished wailing and squealing over the PA system. It did not last very long and we never found out the cause.

We continued our recently established custom of sharing a classic Bounty bar with our Solent-crossing tea. Such bars being an occasional treat when I was small.

Landed, and found our way to the Tier 1 Tesco a little to the south of Ryde, with the large, neat trolley stack snapped above. A place which must be ten or more years old now, but still looks bright and smart. Built at a time when Tesco's were content just to build a smart shed and did not feel the need to try and disguise it as a cottage or a castle or anything else.

Various groceries for the cupboard, plus some white bread - not quite baker bread but a holiday treat just the same, cherries and a bottle of red label. Which came in one of the sturdy wire nets snapped above. A lady we mentioned them to, told us that she was jolly glad that spending hours fitting bottles into these nets was not one of the duties of front of house staff. Probably the lady who rescued us from self-checkout-fun.

The cherries turned out to be variety Skeena from Spain. Cold, but good. Another cherry invented in British Columbia.

On to take the miniature cream tea provided with our cottage. We decided not to take any of the whole milk available in our tea: I think previous experience had been that having got used to semi-skimmed, whole milk in tea does not taste too good. After which I popped down to reserve a table at the Bugle, the subject of a number of posts already, starting with reference 1. Noticing on the way that the Hungry Bear, an establishment we tried on our last visit had been made over to the Crown & Bear, calling itself a pub rather than a restaurant.

It turned out to be pie night, beef or chicken, delivered to the serving point as large tray bakes. Plus help-yourself vegetables, some of which had clearly been sitting around for a good while. Not a bad pie, but would have been improved if they had not used such strong gravy.

We speculated about its construction, and we agreed that both filling and topping probably arrived on the premises ready made, just being assembled and cooked on the day. A technique which kept labour costs down and produced quite a decent result, gravy aside. Perhaps there were gravy options to chose from, and management elected for strong and sweet.

Washed down with a spot of south American red with a label which went well with that of the house. But not the same as the wine taken at this point in the cycle last year, as noticed at reference 2. Plenty of it to be seen on the Internet, but I failed to get nearer the manufacturer than Mendoza in Argentina. Just to the east of the Andes and well to the west of Buenos Aires. There are wine people in the area, but I failed to spot this one. Maybe a brand rather than a terroir?

BH settled for a veggie burger, enlivened with some fancy tomato ketchup.

The end of our meal was enlivened by the arrival of the band, not as old as us, but no spring chickens either. Plus perusal of the books which resulted in the post at reference 3.

A cheerful establishment to which we will no doubt, return.

The woodpile around the back.

The flat above. And so to cut across on Cross Street to home on West Street.

PS 1: I find today that while the Bugle may have been up and running for a while, what appears to be the relevant company was only put together in May of this year. With the only document on file being the not very informative document of incorporation, in the name of one Daniel Ashley-Walker. The company name on our receipt was something slightly different, to wit, 'The Catering Group Ltd of Brading'.

PS 2: in the course of posting this, I came across flak towers, things I was vaguely aware of, but which I had not paid enough attention to. It turns out that they were huge concrete towers, intended for air defense, the storage of records and civilians, a small number of which were built to defend major German cities during the second world war. Some of which survive to this day. Reference 4 has only served to whet my appetite and I shall dig around a bit to see if there is more. Presumably, we did not think that they would work for us. Or perhaps the need had passed by the time we found out about them. The one included above is in or near Vienna. From which I associate to the gun forts we built into chalk cliffs, where I believe the vibrations and shocks from the firing guns were serious problems.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-loin.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/07/to-ryde.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/raynes-park-on-sea.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower.