Seeing this story on the BBC about Taybarns (an all-you-can-eat restaurant whose business is growing during the recession) I was reminded about something I was going to write during my time down in London staying at a Travelodge, and again saw the other weekend when we stayed down in Berkshire. Buffet-style catering – and particularly buffet-style breakfasts.

Personally, I try to stay pretty sane in ‘all you can eat’ environments. From what I’ve seen at Travelodges and the like though, I seem to be in the minority in that aspect.

I lost count of the number of times I’d see people with plates piled high with food for breakfast and/or going back for second, third even (on one memorable occasion) fourth helpings. Obviously some people were just hungry, but others were doing it out of greed, and some kind of misplaced “Well I’ve paid for this so I’m going to get every single penny’s worth out of it” attitude.

I don’t understand that attitude – no, that’s not true. I can see the way some people’s minds work. I just don’t like it, and it’s not a mindset that will ever sit with me. I’d rather have the food I want, not necessarily what I feel I deserve, or that is mine because I’ve paid £x for it.

There’s more to this, I just haven’t yet got it straight enough in my head to be able to get it written down properly.