When I’m on holiday, I tend not to take photographs of the usual things. In fact, it’s only relatively recently that I’ve taken photographs at all, generally much preferring to rely on memories of the things I see, which conjure up far better images than any photograph of mine could, especially of people and places. That said, I'm always on the lookout for things which encapsulate the holiday or represent significant aspects of it, and being able to use the camera on my phone to capture anything quirky or amusing is simply too much of a temptation. Given what you already know about me, it will probably come as no surprise to you that I often take pictures of cakes. More specifically, I take pictures of cakes in Australia.
Category: Cake
Bettys pops up in Dalston
As with many aspects of modern life that we take for granted, it’s easy to think of home shopping as a recent phenomenon, made possible by the telephone and the internet. The reality, I suspect, is that it dates from ancient times, when human beings first hit upon the idea of getting someone else to do their bidding. These days, with a few niche exceptions, it involves mutual agreement rather than the lash of a whip, and as technology has developed, the level of interaction between customer and service provider has been reduced to a few clicks of a mouse. That said, the basic idea is the same as it has been for thousands of years. Nevertheless, an important difference appears to be emerging. Whereas home shopping has traditionally been largely a matter of customer service and convenience, it has more recently become an existential necessity for those businesses which have closed their doors physically to customers amidst efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 and as socially distant interaction becomes the new norm. The balance has shifted, and now that Mohammed is no longer able to go to the mountain, the mountain is being forced to find inventive ways to come to him instead.
Bettys Tour 2019: Epilog
In the same way that there used to be an “Epilog” at the end of The Streets of San Francisco, providing the all-important commentary on what had happened earlier in the programme, it struck me that it might be useful to pull together a distillation of some of the highlights of my Bettys Tour for the benefit of anyone thinking of making a visit in the future. We all have slightly different requirements when it comes to something as important as elevenses and tea time, and it would be a pity not to share some brief observations in the hope of helping others to work out how best to satisfy their own particular penchant.
Bettys Tour 2019: York
York, seen by many as the capital of Yorkshire, is a place of great historical and religious significance; a walled city on the Rivers Foss and Ouse with roots as both a Roman and Viking settlement, a street plan in the centre which remains largely as it was in mediaeval times, and a more recent association with railways, chocolate and, of course, Bettys. For me, however, its significance is more personal in nature. Unlike Ilkley, Harrogate and Northallerton, I already knew York quite well before I arrived, having lived there for three years, initially as a student and later as a lecturer at the York branch of the College of Law. York is also the place where in a wider sense my Bettys Tour really started. It was, therefore, with a sense of anticipation tinged with sadness that I arrived for the fourth and final leg of my Bettys Tour 2019; anticipation at the thought of reacquainting myself with a place I used to call home, and sadness that much of what originally connected me to that place is now no longer there.
Bettys Tour 2019: Northallerton
As the county town of North Yorkshire, Northallerton is to York as Albany is to New York City; often overlooked in favour of its larger neighbour in an "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" kind of way. It is, however, a charming place. You just have to look a bit harder to see it than in Ilkley and Harrogate.
Bettys Tour 2019: Harrogate
All I knew about Harrogate before I arrived there for Day 3 of the Bettys Tour 2019 was that it's a spa town which has two branches of Bettys, is the hub of the Bettys empire, and once hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. The last time I visited was to go to a concert at the Conference Centre as a student in York. The concert was fairly dull and Bettys was full, so I arrived very much hoping that my second visit would be more rewarding.
Bettys Tour 2019: Ilkley
Ilkley is a gem of a place, located on the banks of the River Wharfe in the Yorkshire Dales, and overlooked by the famous Moor rising above it to the south. Nothing says Yorkshire to me quite as much as Ilkley Moor does, so when I arrived at the station for Day 1 of the Bettys Tour 2019, I was ready for an espresso shot of Yorkshireness and wasn’t disappointed.
Bettys Tour 2019: The Bettys Matrix
For those of you who are interested in the logistics of the Bettys Tour 2019, my intention is to sample elevenses and afternoon tea in every branch of Bettys. Six branches, two visits per branch, 12 visits in total. A simple enough task you might think, but factor in the need for a balanced assessment across all branches, two types of afternoon tea (excluding the champagne option), the fact that I like fat rascals and curd tarts equally, plus the need to build in some time for sightseeing and recovery, and the scale of the operation starts to become apparent. The risk of a timetabling clash is simply too great to play this kind of thing by ear. Hence the need for the Bettys Matrix.
Bettys Tour 2019: Time for tea
My Bettys Tour 2019 is fast approaching. After a short period of acclimatisation at the Doncaster base camp, where my fancy London ways will be thoroughly beaten out of me by my dad, I shall set off for a week of Yorkshire-style purification and self-discovery, stopping at Ilkley, Harrogate, Northallerton and York for elevenses and afternoon tea at every branch of Bettys, with a spot of sight-seeing thrown in for good measure. I'm hoping to see some of the many things that any self-respecting Yorkshireman should have seen by my age, but to be honest my main focus is on curd tarts, fat rascals, tea loaf, parkin and sandwiches, washed down with copious amounts of tea and coffee. There might also be the odd cream cake thrown in, and perhaps something containing custard.
What I learned today... 