Farewell to the local Greggs

Last Friday, I learned some ver sad news regarding the local Greggs, mainly that it doesn't exist anymore. I say it's the local greggs, but truly it was only a counter in one of the petrol stations here. So it got replaced a few weeks, maybe days ago, by another sandwich shop. I hope it is as good as Greggs was. I wonder where I will go when I am in the mood for a big chicken sandwich baguette with an insane amount of mayonnaise.

Greggs: bring back the Friday treat

Remember when, back in the days, I paid myself a special Friday treat for lunch, usually a big bad sandwich, to celebrate the coming weekend? Well, it struck me that I haven't done that in a long while. Like for months. And it is no longer a tradition I follow. I used to observe it religiously: Friday means something bad but oh so good. And we have a local Greggs and it's not so far from our house. I had a sandwich from there fairly recently, a couple of weeks ago, but not on a Friday and because I was feeling too lazy to make myself one. Also, I'm a sucker for a chicken baguette sandwich full of mayonnaise. But I should really make it a weekly ritual.

Next Greggs' sandwich?

Sometimes, just to spoil myself and the family, I buy us some sandwiches from Greggs.With a few extra bits and bots: a dessert for Wolfie, a coffee for my wife. Greggs is not really healthy, but it is the epitome of everyday comfort food. I usually go for a baguette, chicken most of the time, even though they go heavy with the mayonnaise (see the picture). But I don't mind, I guess I got used to the quantity of mayonnaise and it is just part of the excesses. I blogged in 2017 about my history with Greggs. We ate plenty of it for lunch last month (last year). Now that the holidays are practically over and that people are returning to normal, I think we need a treat for get us through, well, normality. My wife will probably think I'm exagerrating, but she will come round to it.

Greggs' festive drinks

Since I have started living in England, there are not many treats I like more than the food we can find at Greggs. Over the years, it became one of my go-to place when I wanted a quick yummy sandwich. I got quite happy when a franchise opened in our little town. I am generally not a fan of big chains, but I make an exception for this one. Come Christmastime, my wife loves to try new festive coffees . So when I stop there to buy lunch for us, I always buy a Mint Mocha for her. Now I loathe coffee, but I enjoy the festive cups. Moral of the story: Christmas is not only a Starbucks thing.

Greggs for lunch

Remember when I gave myself Friday treats? Well I started the tradition again today, as I bought myself a tuna baguette from Greggs. We have one Greggs shop in town, I know it's a chain (on principle I prefer to support local businesses), but we might as well make the best of it. As I mentioned in this post from 2017, my very first lunch in the UK, back in 1999, was a sandwich from Greggs. So it has a special place in my heart.

Un muffin de l'Halloween

Je bloguais récemment sur l'aspect gastronomique de l'Halloween: c'est une fête des excès de table et une fête de la sucrerie. Il m'est venu à l'esprit que ça ne prend pas grand-chose pour transformer un dessert quelconque en dessert de l'Halloween. Prenez ce muffin par exemple: tout de qu'il a fallu c'est un hibou sur un fond orange. Je ne sais pas où je l'ai acheté, je crois que c'était à Greggs, mais je me rappelle que c'était dégueulasse. Je songe à préparer un repas spécial pour l'Halloween, pas le jour même mais dans les semaines qui vont suivre. Je vais peut-être faire des muffins comme desserts, mais ils goûteront meilleur que celui-là. Quant à leur rapport à l'Halloween, j'y songe encore. Des muffins à la citrouille? Un glaçage avec dessin thématique? Si vous avez des suggestions, donnez-les moi dans les commentaires.

The sandwiches at Greggs

I had wanted to blog about it a while ago, but never got round to it until now. Anyway, our little posh town last year (I think it was last year) got a Greggs counter in one of our petrol station. Sometimes, you don't need much to be happy, or at least to be contented. And this is what happens when I eat something from Greggs. It is one of my guilty pleasures. So when I am both hungry and lazy, I buy myself a tuna sub like the one you see on the picture. This goes way back and it has something to do with my first time in England as a resident. Back in 1999, when I came here to do my Master degree, my very first lunch in England was a tuna sandwich from Greggs. At that time, it was a tuna sandwich and the bread was a bloomer, but still. Nothing tastes like comfort and security like these. So every time I eat a sandwich from there, I think about that first lunch.

No sandwich treat this Friday

Last Friday, to treat myself after a rough week and a month that was ending, I had decided to treat myself with a decadent (yet healthy) sandwich in maybe the best sandwich shop in the area. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it today, even though I had wanted to treat myself in the same fashion and was looking forward to it. I actually wanted to make it a Friday tradition. But today, there were many technical problems at work, which meant that I could not work much, if at all. Now one could think that it meant that I had plenty of free time, but that was not quite the case: the little I could do, I had to do it three times slower. I had to assist a client with no resource whatsoever, which took ages. So instead of taking my lunch break at a normal time, I took it quite late in the afternoon. When I arrived at the shop, it was closing and they had nothing left. I had to walk all my way to the center town and buy something at Greggs. Not quite the same treat.

But two good things came off from this chaotic, messy, frustrating Friday. First it was a short one: I left work an hour early, when there was nothing else to do and no one to help. Secondly, before I left the closing sandwich shop, the guy behind the till, understand my angst and frustration, gave me their phone number. He told me that when I am taken at work at lunch time/opening hours and don't think I can make it there on time, I could just call so they can prepare the sandwich for me. If I cannot show up later on before closing time, they will even deliver it for me at the working place. I used to love this place, now I adore it. This is what I find a serviceable, friendly, professional service. If I ever do business in catering and open a sandwich shop, I want my shop to be like theirs.