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Cafe Morello |
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| A friendly face in the centre of the fine city of Norwich | |
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Cafe Culture April 2007 |
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Wednesday
5th. April Well
Hi all! Yes I got back safely at 10am Monday morning. It was a good flight and because the plane was not full I had two seats to myself which was real luxury. But strange things happen on flights with that much humanity in close contact for so long and this one was no exception. I had started to watch the film and was getting myself comfortable when I felt a knock on my arm. I didn’t think too much about it but then a foot came through the gap between the seats and lay on my arm rest!! I looked round and saw the owner of the leg, this lady, was fast asleep and stretched out quite oblivious. I wasn’t too sure what to do and a lady two seats over was quite tickled at the sight. So not thinking too much about the consequences I grabbed the errant big toe,( the one with the silver ring on!) and squeezed and sort of rolled it about, a bit like the ‘This little piggy’ game. (well I had been with little ones for two weeks!!) Amazingly this had no effect on the toes owner at all... so not wishing to watch the film cuddled up to a stranger's foot I thought it best to push it gently back towards its owner and lift the seat rest to block it in. She
never woke up and it was very strange when I found
myself standing next to her waiting for our luggage off
the carousel. I wondered if I should say something, you know,
make a joke of it? But I thought better of it, I mean what do
you say? ......!! AS you probably can guess by now I
came home alone, no, Pam hasn’t sussed me yet and decided to
stay in the States, but she is staying with Jennie for 4 more
weeks to help her with the two babies. A daughter needs her
mum at these times. Pam loves it, she loves America,
loves the children, loves the warmth!! (Said it was 85
today and they’ve put the air con on indoors as it was so
humid) and she is getting a good circle of friends so feels
quite at home there now. Now
don’t start feeling sorry for me. I like my own space and
the opportunity to do just what I like for a while (for
instance its now 1.50 am I’m now writing this and have just
finished watching the new Bond Movie, which was great fun and
well worth watching) But
Wow did I feel the cold when I got home!!! When I got off the
plane I drove straight to the cafe to see Amy, with Jennette
and Kirsten. It was good to see them again and sample a baked
potato with tuna and cheese. Yes I know I’m sad but I really
like them and I missed breakfast on the plane as I was asleep. I’ve
now done my first day back in the cafe and was rather hoping
it would be a bit quiet so I could sort of ease myself back
into it, but Oh No!!! It just turned out to be the busiest day
they’ve had since I’ve been away. WE were so full at
dinner time we lost one or two new customers who were going to
try us (Our regulars are canny and know we have a quick
turnover so wait. Generally we can seat them within a
reasonable time). Anyway I got thru it and as usual we met
some lovely people and they enjoyed what we do and say
they’ll be back . One lady was so impressed with the smile
and the welcome she received last week that she came in today
with a friend and when we greeted her as we do all our
customers she turned to her friend and said, “ You see, I
told you, isn’t this lovely!” Its comments like that that
make us feel good about what we do. It shouldn’t be
anything special really, just good old fashioned ‘service
with a smile’ but its true to say its getting rarer in
England, isn’t that sad? Well
I’d better close I’ve got to get up early in the morning. Oh
by the way we are closing on Good Friday, opening Saturday as
Usual and then closing on Easter Monday too, but will be back
to normal Tuesday. So
I take this opportunity of wishing you all a very special
Easter however you intend to spend it. Bye
Y’all Tuesday 10th
April. Well I’m well
and truly back in the harness and with Pam still away its
proving quite a busy time. Thank goodness Easter came along so
that we could all have a break. As you know we were closed for
Good Friday and Easter Monday but open on the Saturday. I went
Windsurfing on Friday and it was a glorious day if rather light
winds. Hickling Broad was nearly empty but one other windsurfer
and myself had a pleasant and warm couple of hours sailing
around and it gave me a chance to get my gear sorted out after
the winter break. (Yes I did used to sail most of the year
but just lately the flesh has been weak in the face of winter
icy winds) Saturday was
fine and sunny and with the French market in the city, I thought
it would be a really busy day at the café but Amy thought
otherwise and she was right!!( never hear the last of it!!) It
was ok but not as busy as I thought. What did you do? Go to the
sea side or walk in the country? WE had some fun with the names
again and got visited for the first time by Michaelangelo, and
Sharon Stone.( now there’s an interesting combination!) Oh and
Rachel managed to tip a jug of lentil and bacon soup all over
herself. Thank goodness she was wearing an apron but it didn’t
save the bottoms of her trousers and her shoes. She was a mess.
WE apologise to any customers who noticed the very soggy
waitress… Anyway then we
had two days off. Lovely Sunday and the bonus was that I could
eat chocolate for the first time in 40 days and I did!!!!It was
lovely!! Went round to Jennette and Stuarts on Sunday afternoon
and had a slap up, proper Sunday Dinner. It was brilliant and in
the afternoon I got out the camcorder to show them the
footage from South Carolina with the babes on. Jennette was
desperate to see her mate and the new arrival. Monday was
spent at home and Stuart and I were joined later by a mate Lew
and we took down three silver birch trees in my front garden
before 6 of us relaxed in the back garden for a BBQ (I’m
including my dog Cleo in those numbers!! If you’re reading
this Pam). It was one of
the nicest Easters for weather that I can remember for a long
time. Hope you all enjoyed the weekend too, whatever you got up
to. So now we are
back to normal, give us a look when you can. We are still
serving soup, despite the warm weather. Look forward to seeing
you. All the Best, Bye Y’all Friday 20th April Dear all, Sorry there haven’t
been any new photos lately. The reason is that Pam is still in
the States and she has the camera, taking lots of pictures of
our Grand-daughters!! If you look round the
site now you will find a new feature which is a guestbook. I am
very exited about this and it is a bit of a risk, as now you,
the customer, can add your comments about the Cafe, good or bad,
and these comments can be for all to read. Whatever the result,
I am sure it will be a force for good, as all comments are
helpful to us in helping to keep our Cafe the best in Norwich. Please use it and let us
start on a healthy debate, all comments will be welcome . I
am waiting in trepidation because knowing some of our customers
and their wicked sense of humour, who knows what we are going to
find on this page!! A funny thing that has
happened already is that I was asked by Peter Steward, who runs
our site, (Available for hire) to do a test message on the guest
book, as he had only just set it up and wanted to check it was
working ok. When I went to it to check the results I found I had
been beaten to it. There was a message from a dear friend in
South Carolina with whom we had spent a very pleasant evening,
during our recent visit and I’m not kidding when I say that
the Steaks that he BBQ’d were so big we nearly needed a crane
to lift them onto the grill. Oh boy!, did they taste good too,
washed down with a Bud, sitting on his porch as the sun went
down, now that’s Southern living at its best. There haven’t been too
many blog entries lately I’m afraid, as I have been very busy
while Pam is still away, but she is having the time of her life
and Jennie really appreciates her being there at this time so
Pam is where she is needed most. I am though looking
forward to the end of the month when she returns as are all her
friends here. I hope you have noticed
the lovely primulas that are still blooming well in the
window boxes in the yard. They are such good value and look so
colourful and show little signs of flagging, however I have
started to prepare the next phase and yesterday I bought the
first of the ‘busy lizzies’, that will replace them. As the
yard is sheltered from any frosts I might be tempted to put some
in now to give them a head start. Well I have run out of
time, got to get ready to pen up for the day so I’ll have to
stop now. Hope you are all keeping
well and will come and see us soon, Bye Y’all. Tuesday 24th AprilAs April draws into its closing week, with the Easter Holidays behind us, we now look forward to the approaching Summer months. Already we have seen far more opportunities for our customers to take advantage of the outside seating, as this month has been generally so warm. We had fun with names on
Saturday again with The Queen of Sheba, Frankie Lane, Oliver
Cromwell and the ever popular Cliff Richard, making their
appearances. I always enjoy the unusual names, can you come up
with Pam comes home this coming
Monday, and it will be lovely to have her back. There have
been some beautiful babies visiting our Café recently and you
all know how much Pam likes to take them off their mothers and
give them We have started to get information through about the new nationwide Smoking Ban in enclosed public places. As you know, we have been 'non smoking' inside Café Morello for several years, however for the convenience of all our customers, smokers can still smoke outside at our tables in the yard and we don't envisage this changing in July. That is as long as the law gives us a choice. For anyone interested, I have included a picture of our newest Grand-daughter, Ava, on the photos page. So if you want to see her you can navigate to that page from the link on the front page of this site. We are still serving our homemade soup but the demand for it has seen a rapid decline with the warm weather. I will keep it on for a while longer but I think it will soon be coming to a natural halt for this year. Our Prawn and Chicken wraps
continue to be a very popular light lunch and it's an example
of how tastes change over time. We are also offering Tuna and
Cheese Toasties now, as well as beans or cheese on toast. So
there is That's all for now,
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Cafe Morello: 2-3 Orford Yard, Red Lion Street (opposite Debenhams), Norwich, NR1 3TB. Telephone 01603 764441 |
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