H
Hoddle is a god
Guest
Growing up in London, there used to be a lot of Italian cafes. “Dirty Spoons” they used to be called, on account of the fact that every table had a teaspoon on a chain welded to it, and it was always dirty. The Italian owner (who was always called Tony or Franco) could not trust his shyster clientele not to steal the cutlery. Health and Safety banned that practice years ago, probably after a number of kids and old folk died of food poisoning.
My Nan used to take me to one such cafe every Saturday morning. It was called Franco’s, and used to be located on the Old Kent Road. Tony, the owner, was a nice bloke and he always gave me a wafer of Italian ice cream. Mind you, the fcuker still wouldn’t trust my Nan with a spoon, so he couldn’t have been that great.
Anyway, I digress...
On Saturday mornings, this cafe was mainly populated by old people with no teeth. All the old boys wore cloth caps and trench coats, even at the height of Summer. No one drank coffee, even though that was Tony’s speciality - only tea.
The old folk, my Nan included, had the disgusting habit of pouring some of their hot tea into the saucer and then slurping at it with their gummy mouths. This was Hell for me, as an impressionable 6 year old, and would put me off my iced wafer.
These days, there don’t seem to be any gummy old folk; and one never sees anyone at the local Costa slurping at a saucer.
The thing is, I’m thinking of reviving this habit, in memory of my dear old gummy Nan.
Are there any old habits that you’ve seen die out that deserve to be revived?
There are some right old fcukers on this board, so there ought to be a bumper load of stories.
My Nan used to take me to one such cafe every Saturday morning. It was called Franco’s, and used to be located on the Old Kent Road. Tony, the owner, was a nice bloke and he always gave me a wafer of Italian ice cream. Mind you, the fcuker still wouldn’t trust my Nan with a spoon, so he couldn’t have been that great.
Anyway, I digress...
On Saturday mornings, this cafe was mainly populated by old people with no teeth. All the old boys wore cloth caps and trench coats, even at the height of Summer. No one drank coffee, even though that was Tony’s speciality - only tea.
The old folk, my Nan included, had the disgusting habit of pouring some of their hot tea into the saucer and then slurping at it with their gummy mouths. This was Hell for me, as an impressionable 6 year old, and would put me off my iced wafer.
These days, there don’t seem to be any gummy old folk; and one never sees anyone at the local Costa slurping at a saucer.
The thing is, I’m thinking of reviving this habit, in memory of my dear old gummy Nan.
Are there any old habits that you’ve seen die out that deserve to be revived?
There are some right old fcukers on this board, so there ought to be a bumper load of stories.
