It being my birthday, we went to celebrate – if that’s the right word – at our local Harvester restaurant in Bradley Stoke. Although it has all the atmosphere of a bus shelter, the food is suitably bland enough to suit my unsophisticated taste buds.
On entering a Harvester, I am always reminded of the TV advertisement which included the catchy line, “Have you ever been to a Harvester, before?” Judging from most of the customers, most of them had been there before, probably more than once and that was just today. Having restarted my healthy eating kick following the Christmas binge, a high fat burger and chips was the last thing the doctor would have ordered for me, together with a pint of something which purported to be pale ale. (Upon first taste, I complained that this particular lager was oddly very bitter, until I remembered I had specifically ordered something that wasn’t lager.)
The Willow Brook Centre consists of a giant Tesco and sundry – and I am sorry to sound all snobby – downmarket shops. Unless of course you are a huge fan of Iceland, Greggs, KFC and Subway in which case it is a case of heaven on earth. (I am told that there is now one branch of Subway for every 12 people in the UK, or at least there will be soon.) The Harvester is actually not too bad. It’s a bit like an old time Wimpy bar (ask your parents, kids) but with edible burgers and without those strange swivelly sausages. Having first gorged myself on the salad bar and almost spoiling my appetite, I now feel uncomfortably bloated and look forward to the return tomorrow of some lovely Beetroot Juice and salad leaves.
A moderately enjoyable evening was somewhat marred by my Dry January crashing to an end, just like that. Obeying medical advice, I had not had am alcoholic drink since 24 January but let’s be honest: if you can’t have a few pints on your birthday, when can you have them?
My Dry January – the 25th – was less hard than I had imagined. I envisaged by 9 O’clock – known as Wine O’clock in our house – that I would have the DTs and be tearing my hair out, but surprisingly not. I will have to get used to a continuation of Dry January in the weeks and months ahead for a number of reasons. The main ones will be to get a little healthier and lose a little weight and I might lose even more weight if I avoid the Harvester for a while.
