Durham Trip

Holy shit Durham is expensive.

I fancied a day out & it apparently has a couple good shops for secondhand books & vintage clothing. I got an early bus & was running a little late, so decided to skip breakfast, figuring I'd grab something when I go there.

Huge mistake. Walked into a random cafe, not even a fancy one, checked the menu, & 8 QUID FOR A SANDWICH????? Sure it was described as a doorstop sandwich. But a sandwich is a sandwich. For that price you better have unicorn meat as a filling. Tried other places & same sort of shit. Even the cafe in the market hall, the sort of place you'd expect to be reasonably priced, was insane. I'm sorry but £7 for a panini?

I've never been so happy to see a Subway. Not exactly quality, but at least it was less than a fiver. Though getting anything there felt like getting blood out of a stone. Can I have a meatball marinara? No sorry meatballs aren't ready yet. Okay guess I'll have tuna. What bread? Oh no we don't have Italian herbs & cheese. Only 3 out of 7 breads available. Spinach leaves? Don't be silly. Your only leafy option is lettuce. Sauces? You have a choice of 3 & one has no visible label. Please I just want food. And it only occurred to me after I'd left & they'd started eating, but they never offered to toast it & I forgot to ask, so the sub was pathetic. And I had to leave to eat it even though it was freezing because inside there was just a single small table & no seating. Sure the place was tiny but they could surely fit a stool in? And the 2 employees seemed awkward at the idea of having customer. Was this a money laundering front or some shit?

Mentioned my frustrations to a woman working in a charity shop & she recommended a place which she swore had reasonable prices, giving me a convoluted series of directions to find it. Which I didn't bother trying to memorise as soon as she mentioned how great its brunch menu was. No place which has a brunch menu is in my budget.

On the plus side I finally found a copy of Tales from Watership Down! And I picked up a christmas present for my mam. So the trip was worth it at least.