I wasn't having a go at you. See my post #2 in this thread - I know from personal experience how upsetting it can be to go into a place that you know well and feel comfortable in and find it suddenly changed to Checkpoint Charlie.
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If there is a place I can sit outside and get table service and go for a pee in a bush I may just return.
Otherwise it's Vocation ordering time..only got three Future Desired State left.
T&T is a legal requirement so is social distancing in pubs, masks are mandatory but unenforceable due to exceptions and privacy rules, so any pub failing to do T&T etc is liable to a hefty fine; by hefty I mean business threatening. Some have gone overboard keeping their own insecure T&T as well as NHS, I give the numpties a false name so I will know if something has leaked.
I always ask where I sign in if it isn't obvious. One place we were the only punters, and we were outside: the bloke said it didn't matter. I reminded him that if I came down with the bug they'll ask where I've been and may well ask to see his register, and he may well then be in trouble if I wasn't on it. A light came on and he did indeed actively check in the next people who showed up.
No problems - I'm at fault for giving the impression that I thought that you were having a go at me. :) Yes. I was agreeing with you that some people are being prima donnas, making life difficult for staff who are doing their best and often in less than ideal conditions. My central point is that I always try to be polite to bar staff (unless they are downright rude), but am now making an even greater attempt to be polite and friendly, if anything to make their lives more tolerable.
And now we have the problem that follows having to use the new NHS COVID-19 app which seems to have superseded the myriad systems formerly in use. You need a smartphone to do so and really quite a new one too. This is going to make life difficult for those on limited incomes or for people - like my mother - who are of a different generation and struggle to use their domestic hands-free telephones, let alone getting to grips with haptics, QR codes, Bluetooth and 'Allow notifications?'.
I walked past Slattery's last night at 11.40 and through the impenetrable metal roller shutters, it was clear that they were having a lock in. And the British Transport Police HQ is about 75 yards down the road too...
It's enough to put me off most discretionary visits (I often go on my own and see who's there, meander around etc) and pub crawls outside of Berkshire (for now). I've heard enough horror stories from elsewhere about people being refused entry because they can't scan the QR code, won't download some ropey app etc. And now we are truly into Autumnal weather those doing outside only operations won't be seeing much of me (or many others soon, I imagine). £4+ to sit in the freezing cold? Sorry, but no chance.
Three or four pubs in Reading who I trust not to be silly and their cask is good enough to make it just about tolerable. So I'll stick with them for now. But there won't be many new ticks this side of Xmas.
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Extended eye contact? WTF?