Observations

  This is one of the blogs that gets started without any idea of direction. The inspiration was a recent search on AirB&B and trawling through countless photos. As you can probably imagine, I pay a lot of attention to the available cooking facilities as these are strong influencers for me.

  Normally, a cursory glance is all I give the kitchen as I can glean a lot quickly and it's only when I'm really interested in a place that a more critical gaze is employed. As I was in a bit of a hurry, I found myself skimming quickly through lots of listings and something emerged that had escaped me before.

  In the UK, we take for granted the presence of gas hobs but they are by no means universal. In France, mains gas is really rare and so, therefore, are gas hobs. If you do manage to come across one, the chances are they are fed by a bottle, a system that is very common around much of Europe. I have even cooked in a hotel kitchen in Switzerland that had their gas supplied by bottles. Most odd, especially when a bottle runs out and needs to be switched over, but that story is for another day.

  However, I'm digressing because though I'm quick to notice gas hobs, I'm almost totally oblivious to microwaves. Until today. I'm not sure what it was about scanning through the listings so rapidly that made me notice but it suddenly became apparent that even the tiniest kitchen was overrun with the devil's TV set. Besides being a ridiculous waste of space, I fear that this means a microwave is considered a necessity, even by the French.

  As the self proclaimed harbinger of doom, decline and decay, this is just one more nail in the coffin of humanity. But let's not end this on a sad note. The good news is that a fix of fine French fayre is on the cards. With any luck the trip will include the discovery of a rotisserie groaning with chickens and I'll be able to find a quiet corner to nibble away peacefully. Sigh...

Kirk out

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