I was looking for him...

Popeye came home late this morning....I was worried about him...I'd had a bad night and I hadn't slept hardly at all due to my fibromyalgia pains which are determined at the moment to find new levels of awareness/torture. So when Popeye was not there for breakfast I went into panic mode. He is my favourite cat out of all three of them. Around 11 this morning he bounded home in that way he does casually as though nothing is wrong and demanded a cuddle. He was very vociferous so I have no idea what he had been up to. So these few photos are me trying to take a photo of him in my arms with my iPhone, then a couple as he jumped on to my computer desk and was still demanding attention and trying to kiss the phone. So I tried a collage of these photos.

I went to art this afternoon but was too tired to do lunch so went to a pub that does a carvery for a reasonable price. It is on the way. Well, the meal was lovely, but it was spoilt by the staff trying to remove your plate from under your nose while you are still eating the end of your meal. This is not the first time it has happened. It is not just to me, they appear to do it to others too, and they did last time to a friend and I as we were talking and still hadn't finished our plates. I was on my own today. This was my treat becaue I really wasn't feeling well. I still had 3 roast potatoes on the plate, a slice of roast beef and some veg. I had placed my knife and fork on each side of the plate (as you do when you are eating) and I was chewing my mouthful of food...when along came one of the staff picked up my serviette which was on the table beside me, and had been all through the meal and put his fingers on the edge of my plate and started to pull it towards him saying 'You've finished your meal?'

'Oh no I have not," I retorted to him, 'I have a mouthful of food I am chewing...' I didn't get a chance to say any more because he let go of my serviette back on to the table, and pushed my plate back towards me, and he retreated quickly.

I was more than furious. I didn't want to touch my serviette to wipe my mouth after it had been in his hand (I didn't know where his hand had been). I didn't even want to finish my meal at this point because he had held the side of my plate to pull it towards him, but I did finish the meat and roast potatoes. I was unhappy, my treat to me had been sullied and spoilt, and I was still feeling ill because of the tiredness.

I said to myself not to feel like this and still to recognise this as my treat, but I am afraid all I could dwell on was my sullied spoilt treat. I passed him later walking out, and he deliberately kept eye contact away from me. It was a good job because I seriously couldn't ttrust myself to speak at that point.

This seems to be the policy of this pub, the almost aggressive removal of your plate before you finish your meal, and he has begun the removel process before he has even finished asking you if you have finished your meal. You have helped yourself to the carvery, the plate is not delivered to your table, you have carried your own plate of food to your table, so it is not as though this is waiter service. By the way this was lunch time...the pub is about a quarter full...so there are plenty of vacant full tables.

This did upset me the rest of the day. but I like their food...the carvery...it is all cooked just the way I like. I should say I am not going back, but there is nothing else near to me as good as this.

So, if any of you have hints on how I can deal with this/keep my piece of mind/have a strategy to stop them doing this/or something, I would appreciate it.

In my eyes a meal is only finished when...
1. you have finished chewing your mouthful of food
2. you have placed knife and fork together on the side of the plate
3. and you have pushed the said plate slightly away from you

I did not have the energy today to even look for a DerelictThursday photo. When I got home from art (I was too tired to do anything there even, I was useless) I went to bed and slept.

I have just woken up for a few minutes, posting this and back to sleep...I hope.