Neville's Birthday Lunch. Nearly a Non Event!

I started to write this posting last night, but before I had finished it, we had a power outage. I was slightly panic stricken, as I am not sure what to expect under those curcumstanses. I was assured by my son and daughter, that it should be alright. It has not been in past occurances. Thankfully, it is this time.
Now, back to my scribblings. Monday was my husband's birthday, and I had promised to take him out for lunch. As he goes to our small farm every Monday and Tuesday, it suited my plans to have to wait until Wednesday, as that is the day one of the hotels here has a $10.00 two course menu, for the over fifties. It was 40 degrees celcius yesterday, and not the type of day I like to venture out in, but, a promise is a promise, so off we went.
We arrived at the hotel at noon, and I was very surprised to note, there were very few cars. My immediate thought was, maybe the town's folk had more sense than we, and had stayed indoors.
When we got to the door, we discovered two notices on blackboards, to the effect that there would be no meals served that day, as the power was off, because the management were installing new air conditioners. Neville was all for calling it quits and going home. Not this little black duck! As I had planned this outing, I had not prepared anything for lunch, so we had no choice but to go to the other hotel. There are several cafes in town, but he does not like that sort of place or food. There is nothing wrong with it, it is very good food, but not his taste.
We arrived at the other establishment, and placed our orders. Schnitzels, chicken for me, beef for him, sans gravy. We bought soft drinks and sat down. 35 to 40 mins later, our meals finally arrived. They were NOT busy, in spite of the other hotel being closed for meals, so I was puzzled as to why it took so long for them to cook a couple of schnitzels. The 'salad' consisted of a couple of lettuce leaves, some tomato wedges and some slices of unpeeled cucumber and some raw onion, served on the plate. I said to Neville, if I were running the place, the so called cook would not get a job working for me. There were very few patrons for lunch. They were mostly locals, but there was one family passing through. Not exactly what I had planned, but such is life.