Eating on the footpath

is not something I can remember ever occurring when I was very young. We children did eat those currant buns outside the bakery in the place where I was born, of course we did. It was fun to get a small, warm bun and eat around the currants and lick our sugary fingers in a most unhygienic fashion. 

What did not happen was adults "having coffee" sort of sitting. It would not have been legal to place a table and a couple of chairs on the footpath and let people sit there. Even the "beer garden" of the local pub was hidden away. Eating and drinking in public like that was something which simply was not done. There were in fact very few places to eat out at all. You could get something like "fish and chips" but pizza and "burgers" were unheard of. 

Fish and chips of course came wrapped first in plain "butcher" paper and then in a double layer of yesterday's news. You tore the top open and dived in. It did not happen often. I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I did that in childhood.

I still don't eat out very often. It will be interesting to see how Middle Cat and I cope with this while we are away. It might be why we decided we wanted "self-catering" accommodation in some places - no, not just because it is cheaper. It may actually not be much cheaper. 

What we will not be doing is sitting at a table located out on the footpath somewhere. The weather might be against it but it is also something that we are not used to doing. We might well do it in Europe where, at least in the south, it is much more common. It is unlikely we will do it in Scottish rain.

There are a great many places here where it is possible to eat outside. I wonder why people want to do it in the immediate area because the cafes concerned all seem to be close to busy roads. Why eat to the smell of car fumes and the sound of car tyres swishing past? They are no quieter than it would be inside. There are people passing all the time. Why would you want to have to constantly shift your seat so someone can move through the area? 

There is also the issue of food and drink falling on the surface others are walking on. Perhaps European cafe owners are more aware of that or people are tidier or the seating is arranged differently. I do not know. The last time I was in Europe was many years ago and the weather was not conducive to sitting outside.

It is a while since I have properly been on a picnic too. Middle Cat and I would take the Senior Cat out to the beach occasionally but he found it easier to stay sitting in the car. We would eat fish and chips there so he could watch the waves and the boats coming in and out. It was something he loved to do and actually found very relaxing.  That is the way a picnic should be. Middle Cat and I have occasionally found the need to get a drink and something small to eat but we have not sat outside a cafe to do it.  We find a quiet spot and watch the waves or the birds or just enjoy the greenery. 

I wish I understood the attraction of eating outside a cafe like that. It is so different from the occasional picnics with Grandma and Grandpa. The tartan rug would be spread out. Grandpa would light a fire in the hole he had carefully dug and make tea for the adults. We children would be given home made lemon cordial. There would be sandwiches out of the wicker picnic basket. We would brush away the ants and bury all the "rubbish" in the fire hole at the end of it all. Grandpa would stamp on the earth over the hole to be certain the fire was out. Around us there would be bird song and human chatter. 

I think I prefer that to the sound of car tyres and people moving irritably past me on a crowded footpath. This is not Europe where one can find a small cafe without main road traffic rushing past.