Your Views

Keep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions.

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Your e-Mails

Elke Riederich	Hello Nicey & Wifey, only a couple of days ago I got your book with a comment like: Something sweet and funny. Well, having read it within a few hours I had to reply: This is some really serious stuff. I don’t think it’s funny :-). I run a tiny little Fudgery & British Shop in Bavaria (somewhere between Munich and Salzburg) www.wasserburg.de . So, do not fear to pay a visit to the continent sometime. There’s always a good supply of Digestives, Hob Nobs (shame it’s only the plain ones now), homemade shortbread, homemade biscuits and scones etc. You can enjoy a nice cup of tea as well (I’m working on the sit down at the moment, which will be 2 chairs/small table and the window showcase has to go….but what the heck) Will drop a line once a Nicecupofteaandasitdown (for 2) is provided at the Fudge Mahal. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Elke Riederich Fudge Mahal
	Nicey replies: Hi Elke, Hoorah for your lovely shop. I love your 360 degree panorama on your site. Also I have to congratulate you on your British shelves, PG Tips, Ambrosia Custard and Rice Pud, McVities Digestives, Sarsons Vinegar, Cream Crackers, Horlicks, Rose's Marmalade, Nairns Oatcakes but I see you've drawn the line at Marmite. If we ever find ourselves in Bavaria or fall out of the back of the Tirol sometimes we'll pop in for a cuppa.
Col	Hello Nicey, Love the website. Prawnzilla made me laugh a lot! I thought you'd like to know about something my girlfriend and I are organising. It's a mountain bike adventure race in the Keswick and Borrowdale are of the Lake District on Saturday the 4th of November this year. It's called the TeaRoom Challenge and is intended for all abilities. We're running it to bring people together and enjoy mountain biking and experience the pleasures of tea, cake and the lovely tea rooms of the Lake District. Details of the event including the rules are on our website. We have spoken to a lot of the tea rooms and if it is successful this year, they are happy to give the money for tea and cake towards a charity next time we run it. Everyone would be a winner! Thanks for your time, Col
	Nicey replies: That sounds like a very good plan indeed. Let us know how you all got on we are looking forward to all those pictures of tea and cake (as well as the lovely scenery).
Steve Cox	Hi Nicey I've just been introduced to your site by a good friend. Much as I enjoy it, it saddens me that I find you at such a "difficult" time. The demise of the plain chocolate hob nob has obviously hit everyone very hard indeed. While I myself have to hold my hand up and admit to no love of plain chocolate my friends grief is quite tangible. I tried to console her that it might be some sort of cynical marketing trick, much like the death and instant resurrection of Heinz Salad Cream. I fear now that I may have offered her false hope. Still chin up and thanks once again for the site.
Pete Coates	Hi Nicey & Wifey, Like other readers I am not surprised to read on your site that the much to be preferred Plain Chocolate Hobnob has been dropped. My local branch of Tesco hasn't featured it on its shelves for some time now. As a "mature" (53) biscuit eater with a "sophisticated" palate I always opt for a dark version over the milk should there be a choice. I don't see how McVities are going to get more sales if they are not going to appeal to the older consumer. Don't they realise that the population is, on the whole, getting older and they, the silver haired sophisticates that is, aren't interested in the new-fangled but prefer tried and trusted favourites? McVities are undoubtedly running a strong risk of alienating a very sizeable section of the biscuit buying - and eating - public and, moreover, one that doesn't want to be coerced into paying over the odds for a favourite comestible. Incidentally, has anybody else found it hard to get fig rolls in Tesco? My local Tesco Extra has stopped stocking them and I could not find them at the local Tesco Superstore. Sainsbury, to their credit, had both their own brand, which were tasteless, and Jacobs ( yum, yum!). Now I don't know if my short term memory is playing up but those aforementioned Jacobs Fig Rolls had ridges on top, I believe, just like the biscuit of old. Have Jacobs gone back to the old recipe or did I enter a time-warp in that supermarket and retrieve that packet from my past? I'm going to have to return there and buy another packet to check. Pete
	Nicey replies: Very good point about the growing grey pound, a phenomena that McVities are themselves instrumental in now that they have removed the trans-fats from their biscuits and lowered sodium. Our local Tesco too has dramatically reduced the size of its biscuit aisle, and probably as a company Tesco have been backing away from the Plain Chocolate Hobnob all of 2006 as sales slowed. As we saw with Abbey Crunch this can now be the death knell for a previously high volume product. It's not good for consumers to have our McVities buying choices apparently dictated primarily by the combination of the biscuit buyer at Tescos and the brand managers at McVities. No doubt the two have a long list of statistics about sales and consumer trends to back up their decisions, it just seems in this case that the tube was factored out of the equation long ago when in fact it was the explanation. Certainly when we do visit our nearest Sainsburys the biscuit aisle seems extensive, inviting, stimulating and somehow sympathetic. Wifey knows now to go and do two or three other things while I'm ensconced in there making important and considered decisions. I get a similar feeling when visiting the very large and extensive Ironmongers in town as opposed to nipping into Homebase/B&Q etc. As for the ridges on Jacob's Fig Rolls yes they are back, although they seem to me to be not such a problem as those of old which could harbour excessive amounts of crust.
Andrew Bourbon-Cream	As if news of the impending demise of the Plain Chocolate HobNob wasn't bad enough, one must now face the fact that we are moving out of the Cream Tea Season. Living in the west country, perhaps we lockels are more sensitive than most to this time of year but the sad fact remains that with the passing of the fresh strawberry season, we now must face a sudden down-turn in cream tea uptake. Wifey-Darling will no doubt become quieter, virtually hibernating over winter until the daffodils and Cream Tea signs start to re-appear next spring. All I ask is that your devoted readers and well-wishers keep in mind the many who shall be suffering these coming months. Some suggest Panettone therapy, but it's not the same, it really isn't. Here's some lovely crumbly scones Wifey-Darling made earlier this year for a do: Sincerely Andrew Bourbon-Cream
	Nicey replies: That really is the nicest picture of strawberry topped scones we have ever seen.
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