I made it! Roy called and woke me up at 11:30 and said they were leaving in half an hour. I nearly wept at the thought of missing the tasty treats in store, and begged them to hold on for me, which they did and boy, oh, boy, was it worth it. What an ace place! So relaxed and just… groovy. Even the music on the radio sounded better than it would normally. You don’t wanna go there in a hurry on a Sunday, I’ll tell you that, cos it was so busy we wound up staying in there for almost three hours, including queuing for about half an hour (in the rain), but lawks a-mercy, it’s a good job I’d worked up an appetite. We all got the soup-and-sandwich meal deal for a fiver, and I got the mushroom, leek and Stilton soup with a brie, cranberry and fakey bacon sarnie on granary. A massive bowl of the mushroomiest soup I’ve ever tasted, and a huuuuuge doorstoppy sarnie of such melting deliciousness that I almost wept for joy. It’s ace to see somewhere catering so well for veggies, too, as almost every meat-bearing menu item had a veggie alternative making full use of Quorn and the like. I couldn’t even finish mine, and I don’t know how she managed it, but Roy’s fiancée Erica wolfed hers, and a gorgeous berry smoothie, and then managed to put away most of an enormous plate of blueberry pancakes with yogurt, blueberry jam and maple syrup which would have made a substantial breakfast in itself. I brought home a piece of fruit cake for Lucy (who very kindly vacated her bath so that I could get ready in time) and we shared it tonight. It contained so much alcohol it made us ever so slightly drunk. Lursh in every way. I shall be going again, at every available opportunity, and I recommend anyone in the north east to seek it out and go. But make sure you’re hungry!