England just around the corner

Guess what I had for dinner? Pork pie. With a dab of brown sauce on the side. Guess what's in the fridge? Blackpudding and Kerrygold Irish butter.

No, I didn't fly to London or Dublin today after work. I jumped on my bike to pick up something from the Hardware.nl shop on Ceintuurbaan. And on my way back, my eye caught something interesting.

There on Sarphatipark, not 5 minutes from my door, was a sign that read "Thomas Green's, the best of British.' It looked very small, but I hit my brakes, got off my bike and went to investigate.

Inside I found a British grocery store. Fully stocked. Frozen products, a range of instant Indian meals as well as ingredients, cheese (Cheddar, natch, but Wensleydale too.), rashers, various kinds of sausages, double cream, clotted cream, beverages, crumpets, crisps (salt & vinegar!), a large rains of teas and enough biscuits and sweets and chocolate bars to give the entire nation diabetes. Bottled ales, cider.  Etc. etc. And they deliver too.

How long had they been there? 18 months. How could I have missed them before? Local regulations prescribe they're not allowed to advertise in the street. They're looking for another location.

'Don't move too far out of this neighbourhood,' I said.

www.thomasgreen.nl

PS. Aussies, they've got tim tams and vegemite too!