Warming Up

Sunday 28th September 2003

We returned from Bristol after a fine wedding party. We decided to stop again at the Moto service station near Reading and Mackay had plans to possible attempt the purchase of a courgette.
Then we realised that we would actually be in a different service station. There's one on either side of the road of course and there is no connecting bridge.
So although the service station was owned by the same company and looked identical to the one we had been in less than 24 hours before, the pleasure of pulling a similar stunt was somehow diminished by this fact.
I had kind of hoped that the woman who had served us yesterday might have had a Sunday shift on the eastbound carriage.
But alas we were served by a young woman who was entirely pleasant to us throughout the short period of our coffee and non-courgette based purchases.
We had been in high spirits yesterday, on the way to a faraway city to celebrate the love of two of our friends. Skittishly trying to buy a lone tomato had seemed amusing.
Now we were more sober (despite having been drunk last night) and the superfluous purchase of a courgette would have been inapproproiate.
After my coffee I played on a Lord of the Rings fruit machine (Tolkein would have been pleased about the existence of such a thing I am sure). I put in two pounds and won three.
Maybe service stations aren't such a rip off after all.