Muzak

Today

On the way home from Market Harborough we stopped for coffee at a little tea shop in Moreton-in-Marsh. Maybe it was because we were tired, but when Paul went to use the facilities he came back complaining that there was even piped music in the vestibule leading to the loos. "Whatever happened to quiet?" he grumbled.

In My Day

Back in 1965 I and my friend Anne Bryant went cycling in Cornwall. One day we were peddling along and realised that we were very hungry and had no lunch with us. Anne spotted a sign to a restaurant and we cycled up a long track which led to an up-market establishment.

Full of bravado we parked our bikes and went in. There were no other customers and a youngish waitress ushered us to our seats at a table which was laid with impeccable white napery. We were hot and sweaty and clad in shorts. The menus were brought and we regarded the prices with horror. While we made up our minds that we really only wanted soup and bread, the waitress wounded up the background music. I think that it was rather tasteful stuff - maybe Mantovani or quiet chamber music. I remember that were rather amused by this.

We may have had posh accents but we didn't have posh money. The waitress took our orders for soup without comment.

I just hope she thought that we were worth all the effort - maybe any customers are better than none and we appreciated the music at least.

I heard about someone who, when the neighbouring club's high decibel offering drowned out the already unsuitable Bach's B Minor Mass muzak at the restaurant in which she was eating, was appalled that the waiter's response to her protest was to turn the B Minor mass up to max in an attempt to drown out disco hell!!