It's a fab day out there and we have been a walk up on Bonsall Moor, followed by a visit to the Queen's Head Cafe in Bonsall village, where the kind man from behind the counter gave me a free bottle of ginger beer after I poured the first one all over myself by mistake. It's a good find is this cafe, and caters acceptably for vegetarians. And the welcome is certainly friendlier than the one to be found in the all-veg establishments in Sheffield. I guess it depends how you feel on the day, but which is best? A totally meat-free eating place with grumpy staff, or an omnivorous one where the people are charming and friendly?
Actually, I was in the mood to meet somebody friendly today after a week in which one of my work colleagues has, again, refused to speak to me. He did come out with a grumpy rant about his taxes, idle layabouts etc which was undoubtedly for my benefit but it would be stretching a point to consider that to be actual conversation. Mind you, on the other hand I took Jonny to the Jobcentre this week and the officer we met was kindness itself. This may be anathema to some of my colleagues in the Welfare Rights Service but I don't see the staff in the Jobcentres as enemies at all; braying politicians and newspaper proprietors demonising benefit claimants, they are the chaps in my little black book. In my experience the JC staff are just like workers everywhere trying to make a living. Some of them are really nice. Some are not. Not a whole lot different from my own comrades then, really.