AT YOUR SERVICE

 The British Service station has one thing you can rely on, and that one thing is a smelly toilet. Actually "smelly toilet" does not do the stench ridden stalls justice as the aroma emanating from within is both pervasive and oppressive. It's hard to say why this is the case but it could have something to do with the age of a great number of these motorway stop offs. The decrepitude can be seen in the detail; the non locking locks, the broken toilet seats, the insipid hand dryer strength and the invariable "Caution Wet' signs.

To compliment the Eastern Bloc architecture there is the Soviet era over reliance on bread based food offers. Bread, Bread and more Bread, there is something about travelling in the UK and Bread. It's the same at the airport where sandwiches are the de facto choice. Bread sits in the travellers tummy making for  bloated hours of sitting still, waist band busting road trips and indigestion inducing treks across the country.

Another Service Station standard is the fill to the brim rubbish bins and uncollected debris from tables where families have scoffed and quenched and walked away from, leaving the used boxes and paper wrappers strewn across them.

Not enough staff, is the answer to why these places are dirty and unsightly, or rather, enough staff but with zero motivation or investment in a career in the service industries. Let's face it, working in a Service Station is hardly a child's dream career. Even so, being good at your job regardless is a good habit to get into.

Long gone are the days when Service Stations were seen as part of the glamour and luxury of travel that was an aspiration for many. The pride in service, the civility of it all has long gone replaced by a laissez faire attitude and a "Get It Yourself" ethos

A trip to today's typical Service Station is a generic experience and one which one takes part in reluctantly on the basis purely of hunger and need to use the facilities. It's certainly not a destination