The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘marks and spencer’

I name this ship Priscilla

Our favourite Australian, emailed the other day and asked what colour my new car was.  Quite rightly when you think about it, the first question people will ask is “What colour is it?”.  So after the formal naming ceremony (which was no more formal than when Paul and I agreed to ‘marry’ over a pint of beer in a plastic beaker and a Marks and Spencer Pork Pie sat alongside the River Cam), here she is in all her glory.  Titanium Silver; chosen because it is less likely to look dirty and it will reduce the number of times I have to clean it (from zero to zero, some might say).  Her first outing was a 500 mile trip from York to Reading and back last week and I am delighted to report (like most men – which again will come as a surprise to some) that she got an average of 52 mpg!  I’ve now mastered all the switches on this little automatic number (my knees are not what they used to be) and once I’d past the 300 mile ‘run in period’ even managed to put her in Sport mode for the odd occasion

So in similar words to any respecting queen, long live those who cruise in her.  Assuming the field mice don’t get there first!

It’s been a pretty fast paced week that ended with me picking Paul up from York Railway station last night at 10.00pm.  Paul had been into London on some science people type meet up.  Earlier in the week, I had been into London for a couple of meetings and a couple of Jollys.  We’ve also welcomed a new review to the Pryordurkin website from my fellow diner and friend Sticky T (read it here).   We’re still waiting for our Australian correspondent to submit her first review!

Before Paul got back last night I took the opportunity while he was away to put up some tacky flashing Christmas lights outside the house.  A nice blue LED lit doorway awaited his return.  Those who know him well can only imagine the look on his face.  It was priceless and worth every penny I spent at Barnitts buying them.

Having a fairly leisurely start to the day this morning, while Paul was ignoring me by playing with Lara Croft downstairs (the game – for those who don’t know Paul!), I found myself stumbling across some good music on BBC Radio Three and enjoying it for the next hour or so.  I remembered while listening that the general rule of thumb when it comes to getting old in England is that you start life by listening to Radio One, move onto Radio Two when you hit your thirties.  This is then followed when you reach middle age by becoming an avid BBC Radio Four listener telling your friends and colleagues it’s for the news and comedy only.  The final stage before you order the box that will take you into the ground is listening to BBC Radio Three and being intolerant of noise, children, the general public and basically anyone who gets in your way when walking on a pavement, into a post office or queueing at Marks and Spencer for a little treat.

Those who know me, will realise that this brief encounter with BBC Radio Three is just that because I have never displayed any of the other aforementioned symptons.

Am I the only one who is becoming increasingly disappointed by the food sold in Marks and Spencer.  Once again I find myself less than happy with the quality and value of my purchases.  Surprising as it is, on occasions, purchases from the ASDA range have been far better both in quality and price.  This weekend I knew I would be away from home, so wanted to stock up on some nice, quality food stuffs so Dusty wouldn’t go hungry.  Browsing the shelves at the Marks and Spencer store in York, I could find very little that was both healthy, convenient and good value.  It became quite frustrating when checking the ingredients on each pack to discover the enormously high fat, salt and calorie counts on some of the items sold.  Where they indicate, using colours, that something is within a healthy range, it is only because the portion sizes are so small that a pigeon on a diet would not be satisfied with their lot. 

On some food products sold, when they talk about % RDA (recommended daily intake) on packets, they sometimes work the figure out against half the actual portion size in the product.  So a normal person thinks they are eating healthily but don’t realise they need to only consume half the product to do so.  How many of us do that?  Sneaky marketing me thinks.

On top of the increasing disappointment in the food department, yesterday I went along to stock up on the essentials in the under garment department.   Good value and good quality thank goodness, but the guy who served me was one grumpy sod.  I think the managers are taking their eye of the ball in this store as in the past you could usually gaurantee good service if nothing else at Marks and Spencer.

I called into Marks and Spencer today while out in York over lunch.  What surprised me was just how quickly I got through the checkout.  Normally over lunch time, the place is having with office workers, tourists and locals alike.  Today was noticeably different.  Some tills that were open did not even have customers and the staff sitting there looked decidedly uneasy about the whole.   I suddenly felt guilty when my lot only came to £10.12p for a few fresh salad items for tonight’s tea.

I wonder if this is real life imitating art given the financial pundits and news bulletins spend so much time these days talking us into a recession.