Sarasas South Indian Restaurant opening soon in Hatch End - opened!

In July the chairs were visible. Promising. The search for the word Sarasas reveals their branches in Hayes and pictures of the food. Can't wait!

I phoned their Hayes branch and a well-spoken man told me the restaurant will be opening in a couple of weeks time. 

They serve vegetarian food but are not wholly vegetarian.

Looking at the pictures, the food reminds me of all the South Indian restaurants in Singapore. One of my favourite dishes, which most of them serve, is masala dosai (potato in a crispy large pancake).

Hayes branch

Tel: 020 8561 8188.

Useful Websites

http://sarasasrestaurant.com/hayes/contact.htmlt

Update July Friday 6 and Sat 7 July 2024 now open.

Highlights of the Writers' Summer School in England

 If you have never been to the Writers' Summer School in England, you should try it. The event attracts writers and would be writers of all ages, shapes, sizes, colours, characters - and genres. Poets, playwrights, bloggers, best-sellers, romance writers and comedians.

Here are a few of my happy memories.

I started each day at 8 pm with Lift Up Your Pens where we were inspired to write a paragraph or two on a given subject. At the end of the half hour a few members of the audience volunteered to read out their work.

On one occasion we were asked to write about a dog, without mentioning the breed but implying it. I wrote about a retired dog walker, following a retired police dog finding a dead body in the bushes. The audience rightly guessed that my dog was an Alsatian.

Writers' Summer School at Swanwick, 2023. The Chairman is on the far right. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Sunday Times best seller and multiple award winner Sue Morcroft and her literary agent. At Writers' Summer School in August 2023

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Could you, should you, offer or accept lifts to a writing holiday?

We need a 'travel to Swanwick Writers Summer School' group.

Car Travel I had two lifts from members of my writing group who refused offers of payment.

Later, I gave lifts to people.

On one occasion the person I was assisting turned up late. My relatives who waited to help load up the car and were not pleased. The next year they told the person wanting the lift you must turn up early or within half an hour or risk not getting the lift.

Later, on one occasion I sat alone on a train from London to Derbyshire and at the conference found a new friend who had been on the same train.

If you book a seat you are allocated a random seat and cannot choose to sit near a friend and risk being without a seat if you move or being asked to move out of a reserved seat.to be with a friend.

However, If we could have a system, such as Swanwickers wear a Swanwick badge (make your own by printing a pictures of the Hayes and sit in front carriage, we could find other old friends and potential new friends.

Another idea for those travelling by car would be to have a lift offered and lift wanted system. You might include, a tick box with free, petrol contribution appreciated, and back to your door, or only drop off and collect from designated railway station, or only drop on and collect from my home area which is (your rough location).

Writing Groups There are also writing groups from various areas which regularly send members. So they could offer lifts to people from their area and thus recruit new members for their group.

Train Tickets Or Car For Convenience And Company? One year, on another writing holiday, I had a train ticket. However, I got a lift home to London from an elderly gentleman which I thought would be good to have a chance to recap the week's events and swap stories.

Safety One of the holiday organizers warned me, "Once you leave this holiday, we can't guarantee your safety. We cannot supervise or guarantee anything."

Direct - or Detour! What could go wrong? My driver took a detour. He didn't tell me until after we started driving. he offered to drop me off or continue. The detour took longer than he or I expected because he got lost. This made me later reaching home than I would have been on the train.

On another occasion, my passenger needed to be home on time. In my haste I took the wrong lane and missed a turning off the motorway.

Back to my passenger journeys. On another occasion I was unexpectedly dropped at a station, not on my direct line, which involved changing trains. I had a train pass. However, I faced more stairs and luggage carrying than I had expected.

For me, the whole point of going by car, was to avoid the steps and long Luckily my family were at home and willingly collected me from the station. So after my momentary worry, everything worked out fine for everybody.

Yes, I still found the conversation entertaining and useful. But I learned that it is handy to clarify in advance whether you should offer petrol money, pay for any toll on a bridge, or to buy coffee or a meal at a motorway stop.

Your circumstances and finances could change from year to year. So might your travelling companion's. You could be in a well paid job one year, then retired or divorced the next. Or it could be the other way round. You might start out desperate for money, then find yourself rich and famous and very happy to pay your way or buy meals and gifts.

The arrangement might depend on the finances of the driver, or yours, or simply their attitude to life and yours. It is really simpler to clarity from the start whether you are offering money, a lot, a little, will buy food or drink, or have a gift of a book or flowers.

Know your own personality type. On the Myers Briggs personality typing, there are judgers who like to decide where they are going on holiday and book well in advance, no uncertainty.

Other types, many teachers, are ENFP, P I like to think of as procrastinators, like to have their options open and decide at the last minute.

You also need to know that some types hate to be taken advantage of. Whilst others are nurturers and feel their mission in is to help others, which makes them feel useful.

Many organizations let you know in advance whether you can buy reduced price rail tickets if you buy well ahead.

If your holiday organizers don't have a system going, you could start your own.

Happy travelling!

Useful Websites
writers holiday website
writers summer school website
Facebook page writers holiday
Facebook page writers summer school

London Transport

GWR (Paddington to Fishguard for Writers Holiday annually February)


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Improvements To Food And Decoration At The Hayes Conference Centre, Derbyshire

Am I putting on weight?

The cake was delicious but too much - I can't finish it, says Penn.

Problem
The food has improved - and that's not the only thing which has improved.

However, if you have ever attended a Writers' Summer School or other conference at The Hayes Conference Centre you may view the past through rosy spectacles. In the early days, when we were all younger, The Hayes has a small swimming pool, as well as the Lake.

I remember being upset when the swimming pool was erased. On the other hand, it was small, no proper changing facilities, and the water was cold late in the day.

The lake was pretty, but, frankly, the life belts suggest that somebody might attempt to swim, paddle in the large puddle, or take a photo, step backwards and fall in. Now warning signs tell you it's not just a padding pool, but deep water.

The Garden House
The Garden House, a building reminiscent of a student hostel, had small rooms and such poor acoustics that you could play Chinese whispers from room to room.

Here's a friend I made in the Garden House.

I had a bedroom with no lock, unfortunately, beside the gents showers. I heard several men bang open my door by mistake. I heard male voices saying, 'Sorry!' whilst I was pulling a dress or nightdress over my head.

Historic Slides
This year, in August 2018, we were treated to a slideshow reminder of the good old days at the Hayes.

We had an afternoon tea dance, with music from the Fifties.

One of the Writers' Summer School committee, secretary Ingrid, in a costume from the local Jolly Jesters costume and hire shop in Swanwick.

Food Improvements
In reality, food has improved enormously. Instead of two choices, you now have two hot meat or fish dishes, one hot vegetarian dish, salads, potatoes in one two or three styles.


Salad. Picture by Angela Lansbury.


Choice of cheese and biscuits. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.


Fruit-topped cheesecake, gluten-free cake. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Sometimes lots of cakes. Sometimes more than three. Once - no cakes, only healthy fruit.

Desserts
The desserts are desserts to die for, strawberries and cream and fresh fruit. Most meals offer a selection of cakes including carrot cake, baked cheesecake, chocolate cake and sticky toffee pudding.

Drinks
Machines dispense coffee and tea, hot chocolate, hot water for herb teas, cold juices and cold water 24 hours a day.

Biscuits
At morning break time, we have Brontë biscuits, plain biscuits or chocolate chip cookies. Afternoon teatime we have cakes.

The joy of the first night's meal had worn off by midweek. I heard one person loved the dinner time cakes but said, "Last year's cakes at tea-time were better."

Cheesecake! Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Another was unhappy her choice of a slice of meat which seemed dry. She would have preferred a smaller thicker piece of meat, less thin meaning less likely to be overcooked or dried out. She also thought some vegetables were overcooked until tasteless. Bolder souls were happy, after they went back for an alternative choice, or seconds!

I am a cakeoholic, as well as liking potatoes, biscuits and fruit.

The people have changed, too. The youngsters seems more mature. The over fifties are more energetic. They are smartly and fashionably dressed, even matching their hair to their turquoise lanyards and clothes.

Useful Information
visitbritain.org

Conference Centres
www.cct.org.uk 
Swanwick

The Writers Summer School
www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk
Visit for a day or all the week. Next year's event: August 2019.
Contact secretary@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
See later posts:
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-lake-flowers-and-food-and-faces-at.html