The King William IV Pub Is Not The Only Way

On a sunny, Saturday in Chigwell, you can drive through the High Street  to find busy shoppers along Brooke Parade, children playing on the grassy knoll across the street, and Essex’s finest  in their Prada shades filling the patio at the King William IV pub.

My husband and my pup, Drake, and I  were looking humdrum and couldn’t figure out what to do on this beautiful day. We decided to take a trip down the street from our home to the pub and bask in the Sun on the patio and grab some lunch.

Upon arrival, we saw an adorable, black lab sitting quietly with his owners. Drake was trilled to meet another pup.  There were only a handful of people on the patio, mostly drinkers. A couple people were eating some lunch. We were please it wasn’t as busy as it usually is on a warm, sunny day after the showing of “The Only Way is Essex”.

I left my husband on the patio to look after Drake and I went inside to order. I stood in line for 15 minutes behind two other patrons who were also ordering food and drinks for outside. When I reached the bar to place my order, the bartender told me she wasn’t sure if they were still serving outside and that she had to check with the manager.

She went to retrieve him and he came over to me, grimaced and told me, and I quote, “If you want to eat outside it will take more than an hour. If you dine inside, it will take about 40 mins.”  I stood for a moment in disgust, and questioningly repeated what he said. He nodded his head and said again that it would take an hour or so for food outside.

I wonder why it would take more than 20 minutes to take a mere five steps onto the patio from the dining room? No explanation as to why, of course. So I told him, I would be leaving and going elsewhere.

I grabbed my pup and my husband and we left that RUDE place and went to the deli across the street.  They really should hire more staff if they advertise themselves on a program knowing swarms of people will want to dine there. FYI their service is not always served with a smile!

Smells Like Green Spirit

I was watching Julia & Julia on the Sky movie channel when I realised I haven’t blogged in long time. Is it because I don’t have much to write about? No. It is because I don’t have the motivation to write. I have plenty to write about though. I decided to remodel one of the guest rooms into a study, so that I have a tranquil place to contemplate and write.

There was a single bed in the room made of real pine. We ended up giving it to a  16-year old boy with a large brain tumor who didn’t have a bed of his own. Mostly coats and winter clothes that needed a place to stay filled that room. I emptied the room and threw out all of the rubbish.

I then, went to B&Q and bought some paint. I looked up in Wallpaper magazine for some tips. I also googled “tranquil” colors. Turns out, GREEN is the best color for tranquility. GREEN is a restful color with calming attributes just like blue. GREEN is also represents health and good luck. GREEN denotes balance, stability, and harmony.

The color I chose is called “Willow Green 2”. My husband likes to call it atomic green and had a face of utter disgust when he walked in after I just finished painting the first coat. Three days, two arguments, and one new £35 can of a paler GREEN paint later, it finally grew on my husband. Once the paint dried, it wasn’t so bad after all. We bought the other can from Mead and Son on Brooke Parade in Chigwell. Turns out they had a Dulux paint mixing system and cheaper  paint than B&Q.

Now, I am in the process of furnishing it. I was thinking of filling the room with a desk, filing cabinet, some shelves and a wardrobe all made of light pinewood. My husband’s grandparents had a wardrobe to match in storage. They sold their villa in Spain and all the furniture came with them to England and bits and pieces are spread amongst three sheds in their back garden. Naturally, I dragged my hub to their house one sunny day this week and retrieved all the pieces to the wardrobe. Now I am going to oil and polish the wardrobe and then my hubster will assemble it and put it in our new, GREEN study. One step at a time.