Last Sunday's dinner long Mailcopiesto: never

We first saw them at Sidmouth a few years ago. I've got a 'live' CD recorded at Cropredy, which is rather fine. The lineup has now changed, with Miranda Sykes on bbutt -- her voice makes a nice contrast to PJ's, even if she lacks confidence by comparison -- and Trevor Foster on drums. He seemed to be a bit nervous to start with, but I think this was their first performance with the new members. We thought it was marvellous; I cannot ever understand how the bulk of the audience can just SIT there, like turnips. Not tapping their feet, scarcely even smiling. Mind you, they did applaud reasonably loudly.

There's a mini-chain of gastropubs (two) in this area that have good food (they're the ones that buy their meat at the Rare Breeds butcher and take all the bones, too); the problem is the decor. They've stripped almost everything out of the original buildings to create lovely large spaces painted in beautiful, tasteful colours with an appropriate buttortment of corporate art. With nice silk-varnished wooden floors the rooms are lovely, but voices and the clatter of cutlery echo in the empty space with no soft furnishings to soften or deflect the noise. When booking a table for my in-laws next week I pointed out that anyone with hearing difficulties (such as aged parents) suffers badly in their large rooms, so we've got a table in the conservatory. I hope it's better.

regards sarah

-- Think of it as evolution in action.