More Dining Tales...

[gness]

The restaurants and pubs here are so full and friendly that we're almost sitting on each others laps and it's hard not to hear the conversations around you.....honestly..... ;-)

Yesterday a young lady and her gran arrived beside us......Gran liked an audience and we all heard the fuss about not wanting to pay for a full meal when she only ever ate half.....well that was a fib!
Young lady was lovely with the patience of a saint and helped Gran choose a meal she had no problem eating despite it being large and her.....

Being on her phone for the whole meal! It rang....she answered and chatted.....she made calls and chatted.....and we all heard her plans for the next few days......even though young lady tried to shush her.....

The dessert menu came......gran was on the phone so YL ordered.....

Gran put her phone away....
You've ordered dessert?
Yes, Gran......a cheesecake...
Just the one?!!

Yes, Granny.......you were busy on your phone.... :-)

Gran looked really huffy.......didn't order for herself.....and YL ate the cheesecake...... :-)

[ummmm]

I love a bit of ear wigging :-)

[gness]

I know, Ummmm....terrible isn't it...but fun sometimes.....
Recently in Portugal I was beside a group conversing in sign language......quite unaware that the lady sharing their table with the pint of G in her hand could understand their amusing and colourful "language".

I did give in, winked at one and signed......I can sign....x

[ummmm]

Lol...

Ear wigging on holiday I got directions to the supermarket. Boring but handy :-)

At meal times we always seemed to be sitting close to non English speaking people.

[murraymints]

lol..years ago my ex and I were coerced by the hotel in Alcudia, Mallorca, into a table share for dinner with a german couple older than me..we tried to avoid them by going at different times in the evening, but we had to endure some meals with them talking away in german..UNknown to them I could understand every word they said..moaned the whole time ..talked about me and he, how the British were this and that and really went on at great length about having to share a table with the likes of us etc etc.. did not let a reaction show on my face until the last evening, once we had finished, bid goodbye to our waiter and left him a tip..I turned to them and said in Hoch Deutsch ..I am sorry you have had to endure our company the last few weeks, please remember WE won the war NOT Germany..... the look on their faces was priceless !!

[gness]

And then you left singing.....
One World Cup and Two World Wars...Do dah...do dah!
Lovely Minty....x

[emmie]

Minty great story, wish i could do that when saddled with unwanted company.

[emmie]

i usually get saddled with boring Brits those who think that they have to save you just because you don't mind dining alone.

[Eleena]

^^ Ha ha emmie, I can imagine!

[gness]

Oh yes, Emmie......dining alone can be a treat....we don't always want or need company......

If you're already at the table tell them you're waiting for the kids to join you.....kids put the Brits off..... ;-)

[emmie]

i happen to quite like dining alone, surprising what you can achieve, often chats with the Maître D, waiting staff who also think you are billy no mates, its often led to meeting some sparkling company of other diners, non Brits that is on my foreign jaunts around the globe.

[Zacs-Master]

Foreign joints around the globe eh! As opposed to anywhere else ;-).

[mightymouse]

Dined alone in a restaurant in Gran Canaria, and a singing group (ugh!) came into the place. they assumed I was German as I had blonde hair, and proceeded to serenade me with the hit song "Viva Espana" in German!!!! (This was 40 years ago!) I told them to go forth and multiply in my best English! The paella was nice, bar the interruption.

[DTCwordfan]

mine was similar to minty's, but in a company setting in Paris, and they had the audacity to have side meetings along side us in French, not realising that I had worked in one of their subsidiaries for 4 years - in other Parisian offices and the factory in Lyon.

Like minty, it was a question of let them slowly garotte themselves, pouncing in the last ten minutes with a summary in French including some argot as to their thoughts of we Brits in Head Office - and then watch the pale faces, as white as a young Moselle and the back-tracking/fawning as they tried to recover their position. As the French say, 'Dommage.'

[hellywelly4]

I do love your posts gness, and the wonderful replies you get. They've cheered me up no end.

[gness]

Oh that's nice, Helly....thank you......
I do take some stick for them at times......but a little bit of banter is no harm......and folk do post nice replies....x