I've now had my first taste of the government's 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme to kick-start the catering industry during August. It seems to work well.
I was down at Whitstable on the north Kent Coast with young friend Emma, who was once my step-daughter's school friend - so she's young to me! And yet, in just a few days she'll have clocked up half a century. You'd never guess.
The trip to Whitstable, with a beach lunch there, and ice cream, and afternoon tea and cake, after a sunny stroll along the sea front to Tankerton, was therefore - taken together - my birthday treat to her. It turned out that the air-conditioned ride there and back in Fiona was part of it too - it was a very hot day, though fortunately with a slight breeze, which made it just about bearable.
The eatery was going to be The Forge, a large green-painted shack built right on the shingle, with all customers eating al fresco under umbrellas, either at tables or standing up at a barrel.
We'd eaten there in previous summers, and knew that its fish and chips were very good indeed. In normal times the menu included lobster, and other sea food exotica, but we wanted only their standard fish and chips. They were doing 'Eat Out to Help Out', and this may well have stimulated trade. But The Forge is always popular regardless, and it was no surprise to find that all the tables were taken. That left the barrels. We secured one of those.
The coronavirus measures had introduced a couple of changes. One of them was that any customers 'eating in' (as opposed to buying a takeaway) had to stay at their table or barrel and place their orders using a phone app, paying by card in the app. All this was clearly explained on a note stuck to our barrel.
First, download and install the app. Okey dokey!
Then, choose the food and drink required from the list in the app, plus any extras, and make payment. The phone signal wasn't great, but it was sufficient. It all went smoothly.
And within minutes, I was able to go to a side-hatch and collect our drinks - two ice-cold cans of Diet Coke. Soon after, the food itself. There was a lot of it. Neither of us could finish all our chips. But we ate all the tasty haddock.
And look at the effect of the 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme!
So what would have cost £20.90 ordinarily now cost only half: £10.45. That paid for the rest of our refreshments while at Whitstable!
If you don't know the place, it's rather attractive on the whole. There's a High Street full of interesting-looking shops, some of them upmarket. There's a long shingle-and-sand seafront, which on the western end used to be home to sundry boat-builders. Their quaint old buildings have been turned into quaint new flats and studios. In the centre, there's a harbour which still houses an active fishing fleet, although much of the former quay area has been given over to eating and shopping of the smarter sort. These shots from our visit will give you an idea:
In the bottom-most shot, Emma (left) is admiring the glassware of the stall owner (right), whose name was Aileen. I'd just bought a lovely blue glass pendant for Emma, as a small birthday present.
We had already encountered an old friend, a fisherman. Here's myself with him:
And here's Emma:
And here we are together in the same shot:
The seafront continues east towards Tankerton, with Herne Bay on the horizon. A very pleasant, sunny walk, with three tiers of beach huts on the slope up from the promenade, mostly well-painted and clearly much used.
Overlooking the seafront was a long greensward. Or at least, it's usually green. The recent hot weather had turned it rather brown.
By now we were more than ready for further refreshment, so I bought us both Cornish ice creams at a kiosk. I don't think they were doing 'Eat Out to Help Out', but I didn't begrudge the £5.00 I paid one bit.
Another half mile brought us back to Whitstable. The objective here was the Castle, a castellated mainly Victorian structure which is now the centrepiece of a park.
We were glad to sit down. It had turned really hot. Amazingly, a bowls game was in progress nearby, on green grass too. You can see how the ordinary grass in the foreground has been desiccated by the sun. We ordered tea and cake, and once again the 'Eat Out to Help Out' discount was applied. The bill was only £5.20.
I was very glad I hadn't worn a summer dress that I'd bought especially for this outing. Here it is, another White Stuff purchase.
I would have been too hot in it. I wore a short denim skirt instead, with the top you see in the photos. The new dress will have its debut soon enough.
Thanks to 'Eat Out to Help Out' I hadn't spend very much on treating Emma, even including the cost of the pendant. But I'll make up for it. I've promised to treat Emma and her aunt Audrey to lunch at The Hydro Hotel in Eastbourne this autumn. I'll make sure it's a jolly good lunch.
