Tuesday 14 October 2008

Posh Nosh..

You can forget yer Langan's, and your poncy squirrel meat, Crayfish tails and Smoked Trout Frikkadels with Charred Limes.... The posh nosh stakes were raised yesterday morning when I found the most extravagent vending machine ever!!! Had I not already dined on Frosties, a yoghurt and a slice of toast some 30 minutes earlier, I could have breakfasted in real style on the platform at Leigh-on-Sea train station.

Passing the time whilst waiting for my train, I gazed gormlessly into the window of the vending machine, and was presented with pure decadence... forget Walkers crisps, only McCoys and Doritos are good enough for your Leigh customers. Can of Coke? forget it, only trendy cartons of juice and cans of health drinks that I've never heard of available here. Fancy a pack of Maltesers or M&Ms? well only cinema size bags are worthy enough... it was like the credit crunch never happened! But hey, what the fuck is that, sitting in the top right hand corner, number 18?? a pack of 4 Ferrero Rocher!! "Why Ambassador, you're really spoiling us now"!! I fully expected to see fresh caviar hanging from one of the sections, but alas it was not to be (although I was on a late train, so maybe it had already sold out).

Apologies for the naff pictures, once I was safely on the train, it dawned on me that my mobile was set to take the lowest quality pictures... still ya gets the idea right?!

So whats the oddest item you've ever seen in a vending machine??

UPDATE: Thanks to John who e-mailed me this link to a website choc full of vending machine madness!! Thanks John, although you really coulda just posted it as a comment and taken all the glory!!! Genius!!

Mad Vending Machines!

7 comments:

Mondo said...

Well it is Leigh P, and full of Bohemians and Brokers.

The weirdest vending machine I've ever seen was in Belgium. Literally the size of shop front and had everything from bread, to jars of bolognese sauce and bottles of red wine plus all the usual sweets crisps etc.. anything you choose was selected by a robot picker arm and dropped in a mini booth.

If this isn't brain frying enough - there were at least 2 grocery shops on the same street - but this was a town that had speakers on every lampost piping soft rock like Phil Collins and Sting all around the streets.

I'll mail you a link if you fancy a day trip.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Leigh poncy these day's ?.I really hate that place it used to be nice but now it's just sooo plastic. The strangest thing i've seen in a vending machine ? A dildo believe it or not , i was in Saks recently for an Arsenal match and the vending machine in the toilet had dildo's at five quid a pop. I didn't get one the Mrs might make me redundent.

Carl.

Piley said...

Cheers PM, although i'll give the link as miss if you don't mind!

Carl - Leigh has certainly gone odd. Fine if you want a coffee, some wine, a poncy meal or a posh frock, but forget anything else. Even the Newsagent has closed! And Grinleys bookshop, which is a crime. No doubt both will be replaced with yet more fancy nosh shops or trendy bars.

I've just added a new link to the original post. Someone sent me a link to a site choc full of mad vending machines in Japan. They are all fairly odd, but keep going till you see the one marked "Truly Bizarre"... you won't believe it.

P

Heff said...

I'll stick with Doritos, meeself.

Anonymous said...

Lol, talking of the bookshop Grindleys, apparently I went in there when I was about 8 and asked for a copy of the Hound of the Baskervilles, the assistant hadn't heard of it and when she asked me who wrote it, I said in all seriousness, its by Sherlock Holmes!

Anonymous said...

I've heard it told that the machine on Benfleet station does quails egg souffle.

Piley said...

Cheers Heff... a wise move I thinks. Do they have Ferrero Rocher on your sidea the pond??!

phsend - you must have looked a right knob! Everyone knows Dr Watson wrote em, right?

Marmite - that's so typical Benfleet...

P