Strawberries and Shire

I wouldn't be English if I didn't make some comment about the weather on a bank holiday weekend. And it wouldn't be England if tomorrow's papers weren't festooned with pictures of scantily clad young women on beaches in Weston-Super-Mare and beyond, with incredulous headlines involving the world 'scorcher'.

And a scorcher it was. Some friends and I were hunting down a cafe in the midday sun of this scorcher, along Shirehampton High Street and came across JJ's bakery and cafe. We sat at one of the tables and chairs set out along the pavement to watch the world go by. Paris, eat your heart out.

I ordered an orange juice with ice, and a gargantuan and quivering custard slice. But everyone else seemed to have had the same idea. About the orange juice and ice at least. The helpful staff apologized that they had run out of ice, but that they would do their best. How do you 'do your best' when it comes to ice? I thought.

But JJ's came up with five star culinary innovation: Frozen strawberries. In your drink, instead of ice. Go to JJ's on Shire High Street and try it, quick. Because this is England - scorchers don't last long...