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Jigjag, Grunger & Malone

We have a nice Wetherspoons where I live - the traditional breakfast is fine but mushrooms (which i love) are `extra`! They are always a safe bet if you are in a strange town/city - the `Knights Templar`in London is wonderful while the Bletchley one is named `Captain Ridley`s Shooting Party`... a reference to a group of MI6 agents who were checking out Bletchley Park as a possible location for their wartime activities - very interesting!

I first went to Goodison Park in the late 60s Jigjag, I knew Everton`s nickname was the `Toffees`but was surprised to see a `Toffee Lady` (dressed like Mary Poppins!) distributing sweets to the crowd - I think they carry on this tradition to this day, while `Everton Mints`are still available as far as I know.

Tyke

Yes it is irritating to pay extra for something that should be included. I have the same problem at Morrisons where it is extra for black pudding and for a drink of course.

It is a great tradition at Goodison. You have to be in the ground rather early to have a chance, but I got one a couple of years ago. I was so thrilled! Malone would approve of the Toffee Lady's uniform if not the name. Long blue and white dress and hat - rather like Bo Peep. I think the umbrella has gone now.

Grunger and Malone

Grunger
Malone mentioned some time ago that she was an official of the Nitpickers Association, and I see you are making a bid to be elected to the committee of the Infinitive Splitting Society Undergoing Evolution. I have often taken issue with ISSUE, but they are moving with the times.
The two bodies have often considered merging, and last night I attended their latest joint meeting. They have issued a draft mission statement, which could possibly be improved upon. It is something like:
“To boldly, where no man has gone before, in order to pick nits and split infinitives in equal amounts, go.”
They have apologised to Star Trek fans.

Malone
I am sorry you could not make it to the meeting. There was a lot of interesting discussion. By the way, I also like scintilla, and soupcon.

Jigjag

I think the mission statement (yeuch!) you shared with us should stay exactly as it is - there's something in it for every pedant in the land. (It did cross my mind, though, that it read rather like some of Googletranslate's 'finest' efforts, possibly from one of the Germanic languages?) The Nitpickers and the Split Infinitive people should get on well together, though the former is a cause much closer to my heart.

Grunger would definitely be an asset to the Infinitive Splitting people.

Malone

I had forgotten that you speak good German and that Germans have the annoying habit of putting the verb at the end. I find it hard to follow as you can wait for several minutes before getting about 4 verbs at the end of the sentence.

Tyke51

I forgot to say earlier - thanks for the news of Wetherspoons you've seen, used. The first few branches I visited were all old banks, so got a bit boring - they were all much of a muchness!

Jigjag,

I wouldn't call my German 'good', but it's passable (if I'm not conversing with a German who has any pedantic leanings!). The verb thing is a bit of a nuisance, I agree, but it's offset by the loveliness of some of the words, constructed by joining parts/nouns together. That is all very logical, which is what appeals to me.

jigjag
I enjoyed your entertaining cafe report. I think your waitress is somewhat lacking in inter-personal skills. At mine, there is a choice of tinned or grilled tomatoes. Strangely you get two tinned ones but only half a grilled one. Costs I suppose. I usually have pie and chips.

Malone

Thanks for the encouragement. I cant tell a split infinitive from a split end, but I know you cant split a definition which this clue did.
I like Wetherspoons. Unfortunately the local one took over a lovely Victorian pub with 8 rooms and a central bar. It was great with the folk club in one, the quiz team in another and so on. You could only get pies and spam sandwiches, but it was always busy. The landlady retired and it soon went downhill. But Wetherspoons took over, knocked all the walls down to get one big room, put the toilets upstairs, and sold cheap beer and food. Now it is full again.

Grunger, It's a real shame that your lovely local pub couldn't remain as it was. I think it's very hard for independents to stay economically viable these days. I don't know whether the 'full pub' is a good or bad thing, I suppose it depends who it's full of! (That was a deliberate ending to my sentence, by the way.)

You and Jigjag seem very knowledgeable on the breakfast front - well, on eating them anyway! (PS Apologies if you're both excellent cooks.)

Malone

We were taught German at school by the PE teacher (voluntary lunch class). I agree with you about the loveliness of the long words. We had to learn words like pfadfindergruppe and wiederbelebungsversuchen, which I have never used, but have stuck in my head. I too liked the logic and rules and if I remember correctly, there are no exceptions.

I enjoyed your "uberpedantic" the other day, a lovely Anglo-German word.

grunger

Also sorry to hear about your pub. Malone is right - they cant survive unless they do good food. I must have a word with the waitress about her inter-personal skills, as you put it. I am sure that will go well. I might go there on Saturday.

Malone
Your Wetherspoons sounds good, combining cinema, pub and cafe. The local library has done something similar. You can do almost anything in there, except read a book. The "reference" department has gone, replaced by a coffee shop. They have got rid of Chambers and most other dictionaries, so the days of spreading a newspaper and dictionaries all over a table in order to complete a crossword are a thing of the past.