So misunderstood

I know I said yesterday that there would be caves but, quite simply, there weren’t. I apologise if this disappoints you, but maybe another time.

Instead yesterday I went off to see a friend and we had lunch and then went for a civilised stroll around some village type places. It was really lovely wandering about in the sunshine, particularly as normally I would be at work.

We stopped and had a cup of tea in a café and it was like walking into a time warp. A very badly decorated and under-funded time warp. It was the kind of café that you get in a sitcom set decades ago – but would have thought ropey even then. We both had a cup of tea which they made in really small cups and they put a teabag in a cup swished it around briefly and then removed it, along with all of the flavour. But our choices were limited and we wanted a cup of tea, so needs must.

I went home via the supermarket and one of the things I bought was some Diet Coke with Cherry. I really like Dr Pepper and wondered if it might be similar. I have to say that I was not entirely enamoured with this new Diet Coke. It’s almost like drinking two separate flavours that haven’t blended together properly, so you taste the cherry flavour and are then left with a Diet Coke aftertaste. Weird.

Of the flavoured versions of Diet Coke, the one with lemon is the worst that I have tasted. It is like drinking Lemsip. Disgusting. However, I believe there is also a Diet Coke with Cappuccino. So that would be combining coke with a frothy coffee – a cold drink and a hot drink that have nothing in common. Erm, right… I have to say that if I saw some I would have to try it, but I cannot imagine what that bizarre concoction must taste like.

I must admit to liking Diet Coke with vanilla. I first tried it in Australia, which was before it came to the UK. They gave it to me by mistake in a restaurant, but fortunately I liked it. It feels like I am drinking sunshine, if that is possible.

As I have said I do love Dr Pepper and let me tell you, it really is so misunderstood. I was in Texas a few years ago and went to the Dr Pepper Museum, which is in Waco Texas. So not only is Waco the place where a massacre took place a few years ago but is also the shrine to a magnificent drink. I went to the museum with a friend, who was in fact the person who introduced me to Dr Pepper (the drink, not the person) and he always described it as “the nectar of the gods”. Indeed it is...