Ahh, ummm.. an interesting visual image, one which brings to mind the works of Dickens and the late Victorian polarisation between the middle and lower classes. An interesting time from the perspective of social history - a disparate and desperate era, where industrial and scientific progress in the British Empire can be juxtaposed against a social backdrop of injustice and poverty.
One of the more enduring images in the popular consciousness from that time is that of Oliver Twist. A ragged and pathetic figure sunk to the lowest depths of deprivation in the workhouses of Old London; so low in his expectations that the grey and greasy gruel - which would be deemed unfit for human, or indeed animal, consumption in this more modern era was a lofty dream which inspired him to ask "Please sir, can I have some more?"
That's you taking your girlfriend out for a meal on Valentine's day that is. That's your idea of a swanky restaurant. That's your five-star gourmet meal cooked by Gordon Ramsey.
