Pinko, you should live in Oz. Almost the same situation, except that we would have had to drive for miles in a different direction to get to the station, and the young woman sitting next to me needed to get to the next township/suburb (about 5 miles away from the station for which she would have to catch another bus). So I suggested to her to ask the bus driver if he could drop her off as we went through the place she wanted to go.

He yells out to everyone on the bus "Who wants to get off at Fassifern Station?" Everyone says no, so he just bypasses the turn-off to the station and stops in the town and drops her off. Easy-peasy, no fuss, no mess for anyone.

In Oz, the majority of people can't see the sense in doing something silly which wastes everyone's time, when doing something sensible will work better. (Note, I said the "majority of people" because there are still the sticklers for doing the "right" thing regardless of common sense. )

alison,

In the onion soup I think the two ingredients which make the most difference are the clear broth and the brandy. If you have good broth - either home made or what I use, which is sold in a packet at supermarkets - then the flavour of the soup is dramatically improved. Also the brandy is probably the secret ingredient. It changes the flavour but adds that comforting/warming sensation which changes it from soup to an experience. The bread and melted cheese contributes to the whole experience too.

I think I took onion soup to the Winter's Revels that I mentioned before.

In my previous house, where I used to hold a lot of regular music sessions, I had a fuel (wood burning) stove in the dining room and on a couple of occasions in winter I got the fire going, had the kettle constantly simmering for endless pots of tea, and also had some vege & meat soup simmering ready for the mealbreak, with lots of fresh bread & butter. It was close to my idea of heaven: a house full of people playing music, laughing & talking, lots of hot tea and home made soup in a nice warm room in winter.

Helen