04-12-2018, 04:32 AM
I am a pedant. I read that the eggs ''arrive.... sprinkled with black pepper'', with no hint that the customer has had any input at that point. As for it being a greasy spoon, if one can smell all this frying the moment one opens the door, well, that is pretty much my definition of a greasy spoon.
Of course I accept your simple explanation that that is how it was. To say the truth, it has grown on me since re-reading, and I find that I am trying to tidy up the metre, and looking for the odd extra rhyme, because, I fancy, that alone would provide some of the missing wit: everyday nothingness, cast in form. It was an old trick much and well used at the beginning of the 20th century, by people like GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Though they did like a good twist as well.
Of course I accept your simple explanation that that is how it was. To say the truth, it has grown on me since re-reading, and I find that I am trying to tidy up the metre, and looking for the odd extra rhyme, because, I fancy, that alone would provide some of the missing wit: everyday nothingness, cast in form. It was an old trick much and well used at the beginning of the 20th century, by people like GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Though they did like a good twist as well.