Stew in a Box

Roll up, roll up!  Stew in a Box!  Yes folks, pitched just in front of the world-famous Pump Rooms in Bath was this Festive Christmas Offering:

Outside the Pump Rooms, Bath.  Nov 2017.  Pentax ME Super/HP5/Adox paper.

The Pump Rooms - the place where you can experience the quintessential English Afternoon Tea for just £26 per person. Bargain! Check out the menus here.  If you're lucky you'll get a String Quartet to boot. And if you really really want you can get a glass of the warm, too-minerally Mineral Water pumped up from somewhere down below.  I jest but it is a grand place and while I take the mickey about the prices and the pretentiousness the history is undeniable and to be honest I love it all - although probably best avoided during the tourist season, which as far as I can tell runs from about early March until late December. I have actually done Tai Chi on the roof of the Roman Baths - how many people can say that, eh? One of the many, many benefits of having Ankylosing Spondylitis and frequenting the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, back to Stew in a Box - prime pitch or what?!  But the great unwashed  weren't exactly queuing up for their offerings, as you can see from the snap.  Still, it was the first night of the Christmas Market and it was cold and wet and horrible - hopefully trade picked up.  I heard that pitches cost £3000 for the 4 weeks of the markets and this one perhaps even more, given the location.  Hmm.  From what I could ascertain, the foodie pitches were doing well (notwithstanding the above)...mulled wine, pulled pork things, sausages (more of that to come).  The knick-knack cabins (of which there were plenty) were doing substantially less trade and I reckon profit would be hard fought for in those cases.  I did hear from a reliable source, though (that would be the taxi driver back to Bristol Airport.  Ah yes, no longer do I do the trek from The Min to Bath Spa railway station, train to Bristol Temple Meads, Coach to Bristol Airport, plane to Belfast and then an hour by car until I reach the sanctuary of The Liberties.  No siree.  I used to, until quite recently.  But hawking a couple of bags on and off public transport for several hours is alas no longer something that Yours Truly can do with any degree of confidence, hence the taxi to Bristol Airport which makes life a lot easier) that they bus folk into the Bath Christmas Markets from all over...hoards of them expected every day from start to finish and he was in no doubt that money would be made and lots of it.  I'd like to think so, as from what I could see any ££ made would be well earned...sitting in their little cabins for what, 12+ hours per day in the freezing cold trying to persuade people to part with their hard-earned cash.  Fair play to them, eh?