Hot salt beef bagel...

...for my breakfast this morning, was sitting on the train playing GTA and just couldn't get the thought out of my head...by the time I got to Kings Cross I could almost taste it, so (helpless to my whim, and being ruled firmly by my Id) I diverted to the main station and "Ixxy's" therin, no queue (great!), so I walked up to the counter and politely waited to make my order (while the three members of staff gossiped in a secret language)...when I finally got some attention I tried to make my order, but it's been so long since I have had a bagel that I forgot that you have to choose what *kind* you would like - the lady looked at me like I was some sort of simpleton and pointed up to the procedure document hung above her head (1. State what kind of bagel you would like, and if you would like it toasted, 2. State which filling you would like, etc.)...so I switched into ("I know exactly what I want") NY mode (from - "tired and confused London commuter, please have pity" - mode) and ordered "One toasted sesame hot salt beef with sliced gherkin and mustard"...she stuck the bagel into the toasting machine after cleaving it in twain with a lethal looking blade then went back to chatting in her indestinguishable patois with her colleagues...when the bagel popped out she rolled her eyes (yes, sorry love, time to do some work) picked it up with her blue, latex gloved hands and asked "Do you want any cream cheese with your salmon?", which earned her a similar look to the one she had given me earlier and a slow restatement of my order (and this next part I had forgotten too, since my last visit-), she then proceeded to slice and *weigh* the hot salt beef (in case, heaven forbid, I were accidentally given a sliver over the prescribed amount)...you wouldn't see that behavior in NYC, I'll tell you that for nothing...the bagel shop I went into on the Upper West Side served me up something that I genuinely struggled to fit into my mouth (and it was 5 bucks as opposed to 5 QUID!) -

- we're ripped off in England...