Firstly today, I met an old schoolfriend for lunch at the Cozy Cottage Café in Sixmilebridge - a long-overdue meeting! I haven't been to this café before, but had a fair idea where it was, and had no problem finding it. Parking is plentiful on the main street.
It's quite small, as the name implies - but they manage to pack in plenty of tables. Decor is simple - small, bare wooden tables and wooden chairs. It's pleasant, though. One wall houses a flatscreen tv, and the kitchen is at the back. A glass fridge houses tempting desserts. Find a free table and take a seat. The "lite bites" menu is on the tables, the full menu is brought by the server. Service is quick - the small size of the place obviously helps.
The full menu includes the "lite bites" menu and a dinner menu of standard options, served from 12. My friend chose a chicken and mushroom vol-au-vent, I decided on a chicken curry, which I hadn't had in ages. We also had soft drinks, cans of which were brought quickly, along with glasses. The food did take quite a while, but they were busy, and it's generally a sign of freshness.
My friend cleared her plate. I didn't - the curry was initially a bit too hot to eat, and when it lost some temperature, was a bit bland. And the accompanying poppadum was a bit soggy in the middle. Not a great hit - but I'd be willing to try other menu options. The chocolate biscuit cake I had afterwards was much more to my liking! and surprisingly, I managed to finish the large slab I was served. Again, I have to pay tribute to the staff for not hurrying us to finish, given that we were there for nearly two hours, and spent much of the time neither eating nor drinking.
Some hours after I left the 'Bridge, I was off again - to Ennis, this time. My mother and I had booked tickets to The Man in the Woman's Shoes, a one-man comedy show by Mikel Murfi, showing tonight only at Glór. I've seen him before - he's a funny man - and I was looking forward to this. When we went in, we discovered (a) that they haven't done away with the book swap, just moved it - and (b) that the café in the lobby has set up a food cabinet! Upon investigation, we discovered cake. So we decided on a slice of cheesecake for her, another chocolate cake for me. And wine for both.
Well, it took ages to be served. I waited at the till - the guy there walked off without serving me. I noticed another server moving between the tables - we waited until she swerved in our direction, and ordered. Shortly, our cakes were delivered. No drinks, no napkins. When she started making coffees, it became obvious that she'd completely forgotten our wine. Hey-ho, we set to eating our cake. Mine was a bit stale, but I was delighted to find that it had a thick layer of fudge, which satisfactorily masked the stale bits. We both finished our slices..
..and wondered how to get our wine. Our server - apparently the only one working in the whole café - turned out to be a chatty lass, whose attention was frequently diverted to conversations with customers. Customers other than us. My mother finally caught her eye and reminded her of the wine. She apologised profusely and dashed off to get it. From my viewpoint, I could see her make her way to the bar, where she chatted to another staff member. Who turned out to have a bottle of wine, from which she poured two glasses. Progress! And we'd have got it soon after, if our server hadn't been immersed in conversation with a customer on the other side of the bar. We did get our wine eventually. Paying for what we had took a full five minutes, during which I queued at the till and watched in awe as she flitted about. It wasn't her fault, really - as usual, not enough staff. We met an old colleague of my mother's, who sat with us and passed the time pleasantly until we went in.
We had booked two seats on their own, in the tiered section - just a couple of rows up. I actually had terrible trouble booking them - the system seemed to think we'd be leaving a single seat - we didn't - and wouldn't let me book them; I had to book by phone. Interestingly, the row behind us had a single seat free. Wonder how that happened.. We had H31 & H32. I took the one at the end of the row - H32 - and did find I was slightly at an angle, which was a bit uncomfortable. Also, whether I was sitting in an odd position I can't say, but I found the seat itself quite uncomfortable after a while.
However! The show was simply delightful. There's no interval, as you might expect, and it was over within 90 minutes. The title comes from the fact that the character depicted is a cobbler, and breaking in a pair of shoes for a female customer. During the show, his only props onstage are three pairs of shoes. And a shoebox. But he has a rare talent for depicting a scene, by description and by pretty good sound effects, and mimicry of other people's physical characteristics and speech.
The plot is a whimsical tale of his trek into town - in this woman's shoes - where he is to engage in various activities. My, but it does turn into an unusual day for him! as he comments. It's alternately sweet and hilarious. Indeed, I really thought one audience member near us would fall off his seat, as he rolled around in merriment. You could read something more philosophical into the title, but I just enjoyed it as a terrific portrait of rural characters. Touring the country - see the above link for further dates next month. Highly recommended!
Well now. Madama Butterfly at the University Concert Hall next Saturday. My mother likes Row P there - it has an aisle in front, and a rail for your coat: when we checked, there was only one seat left in it! but the seat behind was free. So those are the two we've booked! Then it's back to London - James I: The Key Will Keep the Lock at the National on Monday, The Marriage of Figaro at the Coliseum on Tuesday, Shakespeare: The Kings at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday, and Necropolis: Journey of the Dead in the tunnels under Waterloo Station on Thursday. Today, I finally got confirmation of that, and details of where they meet (Exit 7 of the Underground). Why they're so secretive I don't know, considering you're supposed to be able to buy tickets at the entrance.. I do love that we're meeting indoors though, it'll be fascinating to see whether there's an entrance to the tunnels from there!
No comments:
Post a Comment