The strangest thing…

I WAS in the UK last week and, once again, was reminded why I love living here! Hour journeys taking two and a half hours because the M25 was practically redundant just after the ribbon cutting ceremony. A simple cup of coffee costing more than a meal here.

OK maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but £6 for two coffees is almost the price of a menu del dia. Oh and the weather was, well, English. I went to a couple of places to eat. Nando’s was one where I actually like the food and, like many, they have free WiFI.

But, before you can use their WiFi you have to give them shedloads of information and agree to their terms which, to be honest, I can’t be arsed to read. So, after going through that I log on successfully, but the signal is so weak that I can’t even check my email.

All I get is the spinning ‘I’m really trying’ wheel. So now I go back to 4G and as soon as I turn oFf the Nando’s WiFi the first email I get is from them! An email I couldn’t even receive whilst using their WiFi! This email tells me that I’m now just one click from activating my Nando’s account.

I don’t want a Nando’s account thank you. I’m not clicking anything. It also informs me the benefits of said account is I can order online for delivery. Surely it will be cold by the time it gets to Spain!

And here is the best bit – I can connect to their WiFi whenever I fancy – except I can’t because the signal is crap!!!

 Another thing I noticed in a few places is how waiters, in particular, react when you are paying with a credit card. They give you the machine and then the strangest thing happens when they ask you to put in your pin number.

If they are sort of standing in the vicinity of the machine it almost looks like we are about to play a game of hide and seek. In one place I thought he was going to pull out a blindfold to cover his eyes. It’s hard to explain, but next time you pay a bill at a restaurant table, watch how your server reacts when you go to enter your pin number. It’s hilarious! I think the next time it happens I’m going to put the tablecloth over my head and the machine!