You are probably all way ahead of me on this, but I have
just discovered that all those Hudsons catering vans that plough relentlessly
through the narrow roads in the Bot Gardens, causing pedestrians to stand in
(if not on) the shrubbery, are not, as I had long surmised, servicing some
never-ending banquet for senior staff in the north-western corner, but using
the designated route (green line) for delivering supplies to the back of the
cafe (violet). This is a surprising arrangement. One must assume
that the cost of operating this carbon-intensive supply line is added directly to
the price of your apricot and raspberry friand. It is only the small-item
deliverers that use the quick-drop-off point in the main car park (red star),
and then the quail eggs or whatever must be toted no small distance to the back
of the eatery. The cafe seems to need an interesting range of
specialities, including from an outfit called something like ‘Kiwi
Gourmet Delicacies’, the exact specifications of which can only be
guessed at. Given that the management of the ANBG is very good at what it
does (as well as being unfailingly helpful on all sorts of enquiries) I can
only assume that the logistics of servicing the munchery were planned when the
number of diners, and their daily provisioning, was predicted to be rather less
than is now the case.
