EXCLUSIVE OR ELUSIVE?

It was Thursday before I realised that Easter was going to be this weekend. Not being a regular supermarket shopper means that I had not been inundated with the build-up to Easter which usually begins soon after New Year, with shelves full of brightly wrapped and decorated junk food spewing out of the doors like I would be doing if I ate that stuff!

Everything in Adelaide closes on Good Friday so I had a quick trip to the market Thursday morning - which I normally do on Friday - then off to my mother's for lunch and the whole walk on the beach thing. On the way home I decided son Alex and I would be needing some hot-cross buns to go with the Haigh's Easter eggs that I had bought at the market. Now I happen to know where to get the best hot-cross buns in Adelaide so I left plenty of time to get there from my mother's, before they would be closing, I thought. I arrived at 4.15pm to find that the bakery had been all spruced up, in a nasty, shiny sort of way and lost all of its warm wooden glow and inviting interior. Oh well, I thought, it still has the same name so it will still have the same buns!

Well, it may well have had those buns but, at 4.15, the door was locked. The fancy new sign outside said "We now close at 4.30". As silly as that seemed to me, the day before a 4 day Easter long-weekend, I was still there 15 minutes before closing time! There was someone working away inside but they ignored me and I left, hot-cross bun-less and very annoyed. This would never had happened if they hadn't gone all fancy and up-market, I am sure.

Alex and I struggled along without our buns for the whole of Friday, but when Saturday came along I decided I was going to have a hot-cross bun from that shop for morning tea if it was the last thing I did. So, when I had had enough in the garden this morning, I got all cleaned up and took my by now determined self back to that bakery. Hooray it was open - step one. I noticed there were none of the usual bags of buns on the counter but I thought that now they were all stream-lined and minimalist, the buns would be out the back. I asked the girl sweetly for a dozen hot-cross buns. She looked at me if to say - you are so yesterday - and told me they only had 5 left. Here it was, 11.30 Saturday of Easter and they only had 5 left! Now for a shop that has the best buns in Adelaide it was too ridiculous for words to think that none of the customers for the rest of the day would be able to buy a hot-cross bun for Easter. I bought the 5 buns and ran out of the shop.

In the past I have called in to that bakery if ever I felt the need to get some bakery item because it always had good stuff, the decor was inviting and the service was excellent. I doubt I will go back there now until Christmas time when I will be wanting the best mince-pies, unless I make some myself. A bakery that closes half way through the afternoon will not last long. It seems to have a much reduced range of foods available and is all black and white tiles, shiny glass and mirrors and shiny girls. Sorry, Millie's, you have reflected me right out the door.