Recognised as being from Nottingham

[philmayfield 6,140]

I flew into the airfield at Karlsruhe in Germany some years ago. I got chatting to some older pilots in the clubhouse bar and it turned out they were in the Luftwaffe during the war. I said ‘I guess you guys tried to kill me when I was a baby?’ ‘We probably did’ they said. Oh how we all chuckled!

[Beekay 5,151]

Did they not apologise Phil? At the very least for missing you. 

[philmayfield 6,140]

I’ve always got on well with the Germans and the Italians even though they were once our enemies. It’s the bloody French I can’t stand! 

[philmayfield 6,140]

8 minutes ago, mary1947 said:

WHY??????

I went into a French restaurant and ordered ‘quatre salads nicoise’. The waiter didn’t like my pronunciation and corrected me. I told him ‘we’ve come here for lunch, not a bloody French lesson!’ We walked out!

[mary1947 2,082]

just  asking      Phil you say that you chuckled with Germans   ""GERMANS CAN'T TAKE JOKES""  I should know my sister in law is  German..    A good while ago my brother was 65 so packed  our bags and went over to ``Balve Germany for his birthday bash. Quite a few had being invited to my brothers this happy day. In Germany from starting school till they leave they have a daily lesson in speaking English, Now there were about 20 at the house and not one German spoke to us in English we sat with 2 of the children as they seemed to be the only people  that knew we were there.

[mary1947 2,082]

7 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

I went into a French restaurant and ordered ‘quatre salads nicoise’. The waiter didn’t like my pronunciation and corrected me. I told him ‘we’ve come here for lunch, not a bloody French lesson!’ We walked out!

Yes but what if you were French and you did not use the right pronunciation In an English restaurant  would not one of our waiter,s corrected you.

Sorry Phill that's a lame excuse

[Brew 5,420]

1 hour ago, mary1947 said:

went into a French restaurant and ordered ‘quatre salads nicoise’. The waiter didn’t like my pronunciation and corrected me. I told him ‘we’ve come here for lunch, not a bloody French lesson!’ We walked out!

 

Somehow that doesn't strike me as your finest hour

[philmayfield 6,140]

My O level French is impeccable. Our French master  came from the West Country and we all spoke French with a broad Somerset accent. He lived on a smallholding at Hickling Pastures and bred chickens!

[woody 552]

The French have never forgiven us for Agincourt .

[Oztalgian 3,298]

It is a long-held legend/myth that the British Archers at the Battle of Agincourt gave the two fingered salute to the French as before they went into battle Henry V warned his men in a speech that if captured the bowmen would likely have two or three fingers cut off so they could no longer draw a longbow hence the "Harvey Smith" from the bowmen

[katyjay 5,091]

I have 2 more stories  ( you may wish you never asked! ) We were in the long check-in line at Heathrow for our return flight to Phoenix.  It zigged snd zagged for ever, as it was the line for all international flights.  We got chatting to a fellow traveller, asked him which flight he was on. Phoenix. So are we, do you live in Phoenix?  No, he said, Crown King.  Crikey, we have never known anyone who lived there. Crown King is 28 miles off the interstate, accessed by a road so rough you need a 4 wheel drive. The population is well under 150. I said to him, our daughter went there a few weeks ago, she was delivering a rescue cat to a lady there who takes in rescues. That's my wife, he said.

[Beekay 5,151]

Kath, you never cease to amaze me with your wonderful anecdotes. When I saw the title of this thread, I thought, hey up, somebody's been to Disneyland.

[katyjay 5,091]

Funnily enough Beekay, we took our then 3 year old grandson on that ride. It is the most tame ride you can imagine,  especially for very young children. He screamed bloody murder all the way through it. The staff offered to stop the ride, but we declined.Figuredhe would calm down. He didn't, so for the rest of the visit, one of us stayed on terra firma with him, while the other did the rides!

[nonnaB 4,895]

Small world indeed.When we had the restaurant in Radcliffe we got very friendly with most of our customers who eventually became friends. A an affectionate greeting along with a chat with one particular person had me a bit concerned during the evening because he kept asking various things. At the end of the evening when the restaurant was winding down he came to me , looked me in the eye and said “ You’re from Barrow in Furness aren’t you “  It shocked me because I didn’t think I’d still got my accent ,I was only 5 when we went to Nottingham. Then he asked about where we lived etc and it turned out he lived not far from us and knew my family.

[nonnaB 4,895]

Not understanding any language can be funny or even devastating . We had a customer who was always telling us about her daughter and how much they loved Italy. I asked what her daughters name was.  She explained that she wanted an Italian name that was different from the usual names. I didn’t know how to react when she told me but I couldn’t tell her because the name she had chosen translated to frying pan. The sound of it is quite nice but pity she didn’t find out the English name first.

[MRS B 521]

8 hours ago, nonnaB said:

Small world indeed.When we had the restaurant in Radcliffe we got very friendly with most of our customers who eventually became friends. A an affectionate greeting along with a chat with one particular person had me a bit concerned during the evening because he kept asking various things. At the end of the evening when the restaurant was winding down he came to me , looked me in the eye and said “ You’re from Barrow in Furness aren’t you “  It shocked me because I didn’t think I’d still got my accent ,I was only 5 when we went to Nottingham. Then he asked about where we lived etc and it turned out he lived not far from us and knew my family.

Nonna what was the restaurant you had in Radcliffe called ? Think it could have been where I had my wedding reception to my first husband in 1977? Maybe not but worth asking the question. 

[Oztalgian 3,298]

On 2/12/2024 at 4:59 AM, mary1947 said:

Phil you say that you chuckled with Germans   ""GERMANS CAN'T TAKE JOKES"" 

Some European truck drivers were sitting in a greasy spoon discussing the merits of their various trucks.

The Swedish driver said "I have a Volvo truck and I pick up a load from Stockholm go via Gothenberg on the ferry to Immingham and deliver my load to Leeds and return in three days".

A French driver pipes up and says "I have a Renault truck and I can pick my load up in Paris, take it to London and be back in two days".

A German driver says "Yes but that is a very short journey, I can pick up a load in my Mercedes Benz in Hamburg, deliver it to Birmingham and be back home in two days, a much longer journey".

An old Brit sitting in the corner supping his tea said "When I was younger I could pick up my load just outside Lincoln, deliver it to Hamburg and be back the same day".

The other drivers looked at him in disbelief and the German one said "That's impressive. What rig were you driving"

The old bloke replied quietly "A Lancaster bomber"

[nonnaB 4,895]

8 hours ago, MRS B said:

Nonna what was the restaurant you had in Radcliffe called ? Think it could have been where I had my wedding reception to my first husband in 1977? Maybe not but worth asking the question. 

Mrs B it the first one was called La Buca and the 2nd was L ‘ Angolo. The 2nd was Roses old garage on corner off New Street , the 1st one was on Shelford Road. Hope that helps.

Thinking about it La Buca we opened  in 1976 if I remember well. I don’t think we had any receptions because the restaurant wasn’t very big. We did do a few small receptions though later on but mostly for either friends or customers. We weren’t really noted for weddings but we had a lot of theatre people and people being nosy .. the word got round. Must add that wasn’t the only reason people came the food was excellent and we had good write ups. ( if In doubt ask Phil Mayfield)

[MRS B 521]

Good morning nonnaB. No it was the Chestnut where we went. I was living at Cropwell Butler at the time. Small world eh.

[philmayfield 6,140]

Surely La Buca was originally on Thurland St. That's where we first discovered you. I travelled to Italy quite often on business and it was good to find 'proper' Italian food back home. We followed you around until you departed.

[nonnaB 4,895]

1 hour ago, MRS B said:

Good morning nonnaB. No it was the Chestnut where we went. I was living at Cropwell Butler at the time. Small world eh.

My husband was the manager of The Chestnuts. He was there when the fire destroyed all the reception area. A sad affair because he had brought the place back into busy business It went down a bit but soon recovered due to his personality and his professional staff. At one time it was the place to be because all Christmas parties were held there. 

[nonnaB 4,895]

32 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

Surely La Buca was originally on Thurland St. That's where we first discovered you. I travelled to Italy quite often on business and it was good to find 'proper' Italian food back home. We followed you around until you departed.

Yes Phil it was on Thurland street right opposite NatWest Bank .Then Alex opened Ponte Vecchio on Trent Bridge along with one of his waiters and put a manager in. Then we sold La Buca and took over a licensed shop with the idea of converting it which became “ Puccini’s” 3 years later we sold and came to Italy and stayed 7 years returned to open L’ Angolo in Radcliffe. Returning to Italy we bought a restaurant that catered for weddings but we’d been convinced to buy this place by the rep who visited them , but although we did a lot of receptions daily work wasn’t there. We also bought the house that belonged to the restaurant and sorting out the ground floor we found a load of documents that proved they were in a lot of debt. It was a shock and we didn’t know what to do. Eventually we asked the previous owners if we gave them the restaurant back and just paid them for the house would they accept. They did and we were free of any consequences. It was very stressful and frightening but at least we had our consciences clear. We cleared up and came to live here in the village and borrowed some money to buy the only busy bar freehold.  Both Deborah and James worked there. Time passed and Deborah opened her restaurant that has now been going for 12 years and 6 years ago James opened his restaurant after being bar manager at a luxury hotel and spa. So apart from odd things in between I’ve brought you up to date. 

[philmayfield 6,140]

That’s stirred up a few memories Brenda. I was trying to recall Ponte Vecchio and Puccinis. We’ve patronised them all and once hired the whole of La Bucca on Thurland St. for a Sherwood Flying Club gourmet dinner where you served rabbit - much to the dislike of a couple of members who’d dined regularly on rabbit for much or the war years! I had been appointed ‘entertainment officer’ for my sins.

[nonnaB 4,895]

Yes Phil I remember the flying club dinner and was sorry to hear about the rabbit. On these occasions we tried to keep the authenticity of Italian cooking and rabbit is so popular and is delicious. But you could never please all the people all the time. I forgot to add that we did a couple of years at the golf club . James was at the age of conscription in Italy although he lived in UK . We had already decided to come back to Italy but the problem was if we went straightaway James would have to do his national service. So as we’ d already sold L’Angolo we passed the couple of years at the golf club meaning James was no longer due to join the army . We spent new year 2000 there before we flew here.

Ps Ponte Vecchio was/is next door to Antonio’s and Puccini was on Shelford road.

[MRS B 521]

nonnaB our family had 3 wedding breakfasts at the Chestnuts - ours, my brothers and my auntie. They were very good and at some point your husband must have been the manager. We used to get our meat from the very good butchers in Radcliffe or steak from the farm at Bassingfield where they used to hang it. Until one day we found maggots (yuck) and then stopped going there.