My Ruined Saturday Mornings!
Since, I moved to Dalston in 2010, my Saturday morning routine has been something like this.
- Take a 30 Bus to St. Mary’s Church.
- Visit the Carluccio’s and have a gluten-free breakfast, like a full English or an eggs benedict.
- Visit Waitrose for half my shopping.
- Visit Marks and Spencer for my gluten-free shopping.
But things have changed.
Egyptian Buses On Route 30
A few weeks ago, new buses started on route 30.
I don’t use them, except as a last resort.
They were built in Egypt. Now, I’ve nothing against Egyptians or their country, but we make very good buses in this country and we should have British buses for British bottoms!
The new company running the route seems to not provide the same frequency anyway, so catching a 30 bus, would often involve a longer wait.
Carluccio’s Has Closed
But the need to take a 30 bus decreased, a few weeks ago, when Carluccio’s in Islington closed.
As there is no other place in Islington to get a quick gluten-free breakfast, that put a big hole in my Saturday mornings. I could go to Bill’s or Cote, but they take a lot longer and are much more expensive.
Waitrose
Waitrose too, are annoying me.
They have redone their self-service tills and they are useless for my way of shopping.
I have a large reusable M & S bag, that folds into my man-bag and although it was fine for their original tills, it’s too big for their new tills.
So to shop in Waitrose, I put the bag in the trolley, load my purchases onto the till without a bag and then after payment move them into my shopping bag. How inefficient is that?
I now limit my purchases at Waitrose by using the much-more customer friendly Sainsburys next door.
Anyway, Sainsburys have a much better gluten-free selection, than the terrible range in Waitrose, where no care is taken to make ranges of foods like sausages and burgers gluten-free.
In fact, I wouldn’t trust Waitrose on their allergen philosophy. The labelling might be correct, but it’s all about how different product types and ranges are handled.
You wouldn’t shop in Waitrose if you were a family with one member who was coeliac or gluten-free!
Marks And Spencer
Marks and Spencer at the Angel carry on as normal, as they have done since my paternal grandmother shopped there ibefore the First World War and, when C and I used to shop there in the 1970s.
But they have competition in that I am ringed by others of their stores in Dalston, Finsbury Pavement, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and London Bridge.
Yesterday, I ate breakfast in Leon at Kings Cross and then roamed the shops before doing my Saturday shopping in their Finsbury Pavement store. That one is now opening on Saturdays and I can get two buses directly from the store to the zebra crossing by my house.
Conclusion
All of these factors are combining to make me use Islington less.
What the Angel needs is a Leon, so I can have a fast gluten-free breakfast on the go.
One of the great things about breakfast in Leon, is that there is often time and space to layout your tabloid-sized newspaper and eat a leisurely breakfast.
The Anonymous Widower 
I with you on Waitrose, their selection of GF isn’t as good as it was. I used to go in a lot, but don’t often go there at all now; partly because a weekly group I used to lead has now disbanded and often called on my way home, but I could easily call in on way home from gym, or after church on Sunday. My gf bread is a combination of Schar and Warburtons Artisan. I used to get Schar online direct from them, but they closed down their online shop a couple of weeks before I was putting in an order over Christmas, without telling regular customers. I managed to get a little from Amazon Pantry, and then after Christmas I started using Ocado. I know you don’t have Morrisons, but they have really upped their game on GF, so I get some stuff from there. But I find that on the whole the main thing I use is bread, flour and pasta; all meals we cook from ingredients. I buy the biscuits, eat a few then the rest get thrown away weeks later. I don’t know if you ever go into Costa Coffee, but they currently have a lovely range of bars called KIND. Three flavours – Peanutbutter and Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Nuts and Seasalt, and Caramel, Almonds and Sea Salt. I am often in there in a Saturday morning meeting a friend, and I often get a couple to put in my bag for in the week, especially if I am out longer than expected and need to eat.
Comment by nosnikrapzil | November 18, 2018 |