1P

My last experience of eating on EasyJet was my last.

We sat in the front row on the left and could see the FAs preparing and plating up. One FA was eating his own meal at the same time, putting his fingers up to his mouth and licking them, and then going straight on to deal with passengers' food without washing his hands. My wife complained loudly about this, and he eventually stopped. Thereafter, all the FAs made great play of publicly sanitizing their hands with antiseptic wipes, but it was too late. I had extreme diarrhoea that night. Since the EasyJet food was the only food I had consumed over the previous day and a half, the connection was obvious.

Concerto

God, that's appalling, I thought they followed standard hygiene practices that would have been part of their training. In reality, I think that the Ciabatta I ordered never left the packet it was in and it was warmed up in that packaging, which was probably heat resistant whether put in a microwave or an oven. Same with the Pringles or other packaged snacks, no danger there. But I will keep it in mind and not order that pizza slice (not sure if it's in a packet too).

Concerto

I have to be honest, I copped out of booking a proper hotel for my first night in Bristol, mainly because most hotels were so ridiculously overpriced. I had not planned on spending this night in Bristol, so it was a bit of a last minute booking. In the end I booked the YHA Bristol for only £19, which certainly lacked basic comforts - I was in a 6 person dorm with a bunch of other John's who were very nice but forgot to turn off their mobile phone alerts during the night. The location of this hostel is fabulous though, right in the middle of Bristol's rejuvenated waterfront and docks, with all the bars and nightlife just outside.


The Bristol Hippodrome, which was a couple of minutes walk from the youth hostel

The Mendip Inn is located 15 minutes drive to the northeast from Wells, on a crossroads where the B3135 ends on the busy A37. This was, I'm sure, a dosser's pub in the past, which I probably went past many times in my Wells days. It has been tastefully renovated and given a new lease of life without overdoing it. The rooms are modestly but impeccably furnished, spotlessly clean with excellent bathroom facilities and there are accessories such as USB charging ports. However, they are a bit small, especially the room I was given, "The Rabbit Hutch", and there is very little storage space. Tea and coffee making facilities, complete with biscuits, were superior quality and were intended to be used as part of the breakfast service. Breakfast was the only disappointing aspect of my stay, which consisted of a paper bag filled with sugary snacks such as a muffin and a Rice Krispies bar. At least it meant that I could schedule my breakfast when I wanted and then leave promptly for my meetings in Wells. These would include innumerable cups of tea with cakes anyway, as is always the case in England.


My cosy room in The Mendip Inn


The same room from a slightly different angle


Shower and toilet facilities were perfectly good

The Mendip Inn is primarily known for its restaurant, which is outstanding and made me almost feel that England could once again take over as the culinary center of Europe, an epithet it somehow lost during the Industrial Revolution. I was feeling a little bit unsettled, probably because of all the sweet cakes and sparkling wine consumed after today's funeral. But I was determined to try the restaurant and ordered the vegetarian Wellington with mixed seasonal vegetables and it turned out to be excellent. There were a number of interesting beers on tap, including Atlantic American Pale Ale from the Brixton brewery (which I believe is located on Atlantic Street in Brixton, London). There were plenty of interesting wine options too. I would definitely stay here again, although I found the initial welcome a little bit standoffish.


Nighttime exterior of The Mendip Inn


The Mendip Inn is worth visiting for its restaurant alone


Interesting selection of beers too

pepe C

I highly doubt that a FA licking his fingers will give people diarrhoea.

tom tulpe

But touching other people's food after licking his fingers without washing his hands first is a big no-no in catering.

Concerto

View over the Mendip Hills while driving south towards Wells

This part of England has to be experienced by everyone at some point. It seems so much nicer than other parts of England although I am also very fond of Kent. Wells and surrounding towns have an incredible amount of history with a huge legacy of old buildings, churches and mansions, culminating in Wells Cathedral itself, perhaps the most beautiful cathedral church of all. My first meeting, with a retired teacher, was at the coffee shop of Wells Cathedral, which is rather pretentiously named The Loft. But they offer really good coffee, amazing for England, along with deals on all sorts of currant rolls, cakes, etc. My next meeting took place at lunchtime, at the Ask Italian restaurant in the Market Square. It's not a place I would have automatically gravitated towards, but it turned out to be excellent. The pasta was better than anything I've had in Italy recently (can you believe it?), as was the dessert.


Harbour in the city of Bristol


Street view along what is the A38 in Bedminster in south Bristol


Near the University of Bristol: looks more like Rome!
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Interior of The Toast Room coffee shop, also in Bedminster in south Bristol

Later in the day, after a wander around Wells again (I had spent 5 years here as a pupil of the Cathedral School), I marvelled at how the place had barely changed, a rarity in today's world. The Cathedral School, on the other hand, has become very corporate and anonymous in style and I barely recognise it any more. My next meeting took me to Greenhill care home in Tweentown, Cheddar, where I would spend some time with the mother of a school friend. His parents acted like secondary parents while I was a boarder at the school, inviting me home for exeat weekends and offering pastoral care when needed. I am no stranger to care homes (my mother ended up in one after a severe stroke) and Greenhill seems to be a decent quality place, with very tidy rooms, pleasantly decorated communal areas and caring staff.


Exterior of The Toast Room in south Bristol


The last time I will see my old art teacher's house in Wells


Wells Cathedral as seen across the fields from Tor Furlong


The Penniless Porch which connects the Cathedral Green to the market place and which was where the poor asked for alms; the entrance to the Cathedral coffee shop is just visible

My final meeting of the day was back in Wells at 7pm, meaning I had to rumble back down the A371 from Cheddar. This road is a tough drive because it is so small and windy, with not enough space for two vehicles to pass in numerous places, where the central white lines disappear. But the road markings were often absent due to lack of maintenance and I found the state of the roads in the southwest generally to be shocking, with potholes and rough surfaces. They are similar to the roads in eastern Europe in the early 1990s when the Iron Curtain finally fell (like how it was in East Germany and Romania, for example). In the evening I found myself at the Crown pub in the Market Square, Wells, enjoying Butcombs beer and seeing two classmates I hadn't seen since we left school in 1984. One a chartered surveyor, the other a doctor, they were quite amazed at my tenacity at organising the meet-up and we ended up having a jolly good time in the lively environment of the Crown. Later, I had to let some time pass before I began the drive down to Taunton (the beers were only 4%, but all the same) so Jason invited me home to the family, where we had a big omelette along with cheese and crackers! The drive to Taunton later went well, but I had forgotten how narrow the roads in England are, even the main A39 to Bridgwater, but driving at night really is not fun (especially with today's traffic volumes).


St Andrew Street leading through to the Cathedral Green which faces the cathedral


Wells Cathedral in all its glory, which in truth is not my best photo but it reflects the early March weather


Vicar's Close, Wells, where I spent 4 years as a pupil of Wells Cathedral School


The moat around the Bishop's Palace which is beside the cathedral; when I was at the Cathedral School the bishop of Bath and Wells actually resided here

Concerto

My two night stay at the Holiday Inn Express just outside Taunton got off to a not so great start, but got progressively better during my 2 night stay. To be clear, this is a medium HIX property, predating the current newbuilds, and the rooms have the same design with the same rather cheap looking accessories. My preference, like that of most people, is for the latest newbuilds which are actually quite good. Some of them elevate Holiday Inn Express hotels right up above those mainstream Holiday Inn properties, many of which are beginning to show their age now.


Holiday Inn Express at Taunton, just off the M5 motorway


Check-in desk at the HIX Taunton M5

Check-in was a bit chaotic and I had to wait for a while. No Platinum benefits were offered, such as a complimentary drink and when I queried it the guy said they had run out of vouchers. In the bedroom there were no extras, such as a bottle of water. The next morning a different staff member was able to give me a drinks voucher and offered some welcome points to be added to my account (which didn't turn up). Two days later, when I came to leave, I found that I really quite liked the front desk staff who had done their best and who had even let me have a premium drink (Goose Island IPA) instead of the usual p!&&water on tap. We even had a talk about the state of hotel prices and how successful the HIX Taunton has been, given its proximity to the M5 and the presence of numerous new companies and start-ups in the Taunton area. This is probably the reason why room prices are always high (prices are rarely under £100).


My room in the Holiday Inn Express in Taunton


Shower room facilities in the HIX Taunton

Despite the room being of an older HIX design it was quite comfortable, with a decent bed and bedding, including firm pillows. There was a seating area with a small sofa along with decent desk space, so you could get some work done. The tea and coffee making facilities were good (this is England, after all), but generally there was little storage space in the room. The toilet and shower was again a product of the older HIX room design, but totally acceptable with good water strength in the shower and an adequate hot water supply. For the sink and shower there were dispensers with liquid soap and shower gel, not the best quality but adequate. Enough towels were supplied, so there were no shortages in that respect. The best aspect of the hotel was the breakfast offer, which consisted of the usual continental breakfast accoutrements but also a very good hot English breakfast spread. The Cumberland sausages were really good and I had to prevent myself from taking too many. The scrambled eggs were real scrambled eggs (and you frequent travellers know what scrambled eggs can often be like), despite an apparent egg shortage in England. And the bacon was crispy and decent quality (it was English bacon, after all), not dripping in fat.


Breakfast offering at the HIX Taunton, which was a lot better than many other Holiday Inn Express properties I have stayed at


Seating area for breakfast at the HIX Taunton

Fabo.sk

cheeky mirror selfie

Concerto

Yeah, I saw it! I think it's ok to slip one in here and there though. These reviews aren't too controversial, so far!

Concerto

Driving the A38 along Taunton's main street, otherwise known as East Reach


I recall the Sherford Stream very clearly from when I was little - it is a tributary of the River Tone which runs through Taunton

Taunton is a bit of a special number for me. Despite being born and brought up in Hong Kong, I spent some time here around the age of 4 and 5. Recently, about a year before the pandemic, I turned up in Taunton and knocked on the door of the house where we used to lived and the man who opened the door was the same as he who had bought the house from my father back then. It was an odd experience, wandering into the house where I had been running around so many years earlier. But a curiously nice one and I became friends with the family who is there now, exchanging a couple of traditional letters with them each year. On this trip I had resolved to visit all the places that I could remember from those young and extremely formative years. I remember when we packed up and headed back to Brize Norton airport to board a VC10 aircraft for the long trip back to Hong Kong.


My host, indicating the way back down from Cotlake Hill to the village of Trull and, further on, Taunton


A painting of Wells Cathedral, made more or less in the same location (St Andrew Street) as one of my photos in post #36


There was a big army presence in Taunton back in the day, but it seems to have mostly disappeared now


Road leading up Blagdon Hill to Culmhead, where there had been an airfield during the war years and an important military base, now converted to a business park

What I find amazing is that the surroundings of this part of Taunton have not changed since the 1970s and none of the fields have been built on, like elsewhere in England. The Sherford stream is still bucolic, winding its way through the country with animals grazing beside it, until it reaches Taunton town center and disappears underground. Taunton town center is about 20 minutes walk away and is reached by passing through Vivary Park. The streets of Taunton brought back a lot of odd memories and again, I was amazed how little it had changed. Hatchers department store still exists, presumably because they remained independent and didn't sell out to any of the bigger brands (for example, Debenhams, and we know what happened to it). There is also a big Tesco store, fairly close to the town center, which is reachable on foot, surprisingly well laid out and easy to navigate (separate report coming)!


Entry to Vivary Park in Taunton


Vivary Park was created over what originally were fish farms for Taunton Castle


I could barely believe that Hatchers department store still exists!


Just one of the many old buildings in the downtown area of Taunton

One of my early memories is the Tudor chicken restaurant, now a Caffe Nero, located inside an old listed Tudor house right in the center of Taunton. Caffe Nero have totally respected the integrity and layout of the interior and the window tables were almost the same as those we used to sit at. I also had a look at the Castle Hotel, which still exists, the cinema (now a sadly decaying bingo hall) and the abandoned bus station which looks like it is about to receive a new lease of life. There's an odd mixture of old and new structures in and around the center of Taunton which somehow didn't jar too much. On a future trip I plan to visit the Taunton and Somerset Museum, see the Quantock Hills, where we used to roll Easter eggs, as well as make a trip on the Minehead railway. I terminated this trip with a hike up to Cotlake Hill and around the surrounding country, which provided some amazing views stretching even as far as Glastonbury Tor. I must say that Taunton's location is pretty ideal in the West Country, within reach of Bristol airport and within striking distance of Exeter, Devon and Cornwall.


The old cinema, now a bingo hall which has seen better days


Back street near Taunton Castle


The Tudor House, which was a chicken in the basket restaurant back in the day and is now a Caffe Nero


Interior of the Tudor House, just like it was all those years ago

Fabo.sk

More and more I am starting to think, that the small towns randomly peppered in the countryside are more worthy tourist destinations than the the big cities of the continent. I just wish they were a bit easier to find.

Concerto

One thing which escapes my memory from the 70s is which shops my parents used for stocking the larder. I remember the odd sweet shop here and there, but in Keith, Banffshire, there was a local store called Mace. And when we found ourselves in Wick, Caithness, there was a place down in the harbour called the Cash & Carry. I even can't remember where they went in Hong Kong, except that later on there was a series of mini supermarkets with a blue sign that reminded me of police stations in other countries. I have no memory of the shops we used in Taunton because I was much younger when we were there. I noticed with amazement, while wandering in central Taunton, that Hatchers department store has survived to this day!


Tesco in Taunton, England


Entering the Tesco store in Taunton

Now you can find the usual chain stores almost anywhere and I saw a huge Morrison's logistics center beside the M5 near Bridgwater. Tesco seems to have the biggest footprint of all (not forgetting Morrisons) and I am aware that the points earning possibilities of the famous Clubcard were a great source of cheap Avios over the years. I do not have a Clubcard and only shop at Tesco rarely, when I am in the UK (I note that Tesco seems to be the main store chain in Hungary now). I do have a Tesco prepaid mobile number and they were very supportive when I got cut off for lack of use, restoring my credit and allowing me to continue with the same number.


Decent fruit and vegetable selection


Easter is approaching, as can be seen by the number of chocolate Easter eggs

I have found all Tesco stores to be easily navigable and well laid out and, despite their size, not too tiring to walk through. There is nearly always, at the entrance to the store, a newsagents section and, in the case of Taunton, a coffee shop called The Café (yes, they include the accent on the E, which we don't have in the English language.. I always find that vaguely pretentious). I found everything that I needed and all else in plentiful supply: Easter eggs and chocolate things (I was there just before Easter), lots of teabags (I still prefer Tee Geschwendner in Germany), lots of Twiglets (you can't get those outside the UK, but the taste is not at all the same as it used to be), marmite (need I say more), scones, etc etc!


The coffee shop at the entrance to the Tesco store - there's nothing like a good coffee to get you throwing all sorts of things into your shopping cart


And the real reason I come into Tesco supermarkets: Twiglets! I borrowed my host's Clubcard and got a good reduction on a multipack (I don't possess a Clubcard)

One interesting observation: the general design of supermarkets is such as to draw the visitor in and incite them to buy produce, with a layout of goods arranged in a predetermined order, usually starting with the fruit and vegetables then moving on to other produce with non comestibles later in the circuit, ending with lots of tempting sweeties at the checkout. However, Tesco is quite different: for a start, it begins with the newsagent and café. Whereas every European store I have been in (think REWE in Germany, Carrefour in France, MIGROS in Switzerland, CONAD in Italy) has a circuit that is laid out in an anti clockwise direction, every Tesco store I have visited runs in a clockwise direction. Is that because we drive on the left in the UK? Furthermore, Tesco uses a system of alleyways with signposts hanging from the ceiling describing the goods (biscuits, soft drinks, pasta, etc). These alleyways are bisected by a long walkway running the length of the store the orientation of which is parallel to the windows, the main light source, which is where the checkouts are (so you are never more than a few steps from a checkout). So you are not locked in a fixed circuit. I think Coop and MIGROS in Switzerland could learn a lot from this design.


The self checkout area, taken from two different angles


I bet you never thought you'd end up seeing a review of Tesco in a trip report!

Fabo.sk

A review of a Tescos, on FT... now I have seen everything.

Tesco were the largest grocery chain in Czechia and Slovakia as well, but they have been overtaken by Lidl, which have been better able to adapt to changing buying behaviour of the local public. Then again they had a later start and their smallish format stores were better suited than the huge hyper-markets Tesco and their competitors built in the early 2000s. They used to employ teenagers on rollerskates to run messages and small items, since it was quite the trek from one end to the other. That is long gone, same as huge aquariums with live fish and electronics sections where you could play a game on a demo playstation or listen to the newest hits from a set of headphones chained to a CD changer.

Also still present in Poland, don't know if they ever were the biggest there, though. But they never managed to expand elsewhere in Europe other than the V4. The Germans were best at that, I think, between the Schwartz group and Aldis.

1P

There are certainly Tesco stores which have an anti-clockwise layout.

However, decent people rarely or never shop at Tesco. This is because Tesco use their muscle to treat their suppliers appallingly, squeezing them to the point where it is very difficult for them to make a living. Low prices are all very well, but they result from amoral business practices and the delivery of lower-quality goods.

Out of all the supermarket chains, Waitrose is the best, though not the largest. You pay a little more, but the quality is measurably higher; and because its staff are all partners rather than employees, they have a vested interest in the success of the store and treat customers noticeably better than employees of other chains.

Concerto

Interesting points of view here. I find that the MIGROS and Coop supermarket chains in Switzerland are quite ethical because they work with local farmers and producers, something that supermarkets in other countries don't do. Maybe I'll eventually write an article about each chain!