Granny is here once again with a good old fashioned nuggets of wisdom for us. This time it's basic table manners and all we can say is, the contestants of Come Dine With Me have a lot to learn!
1. Make sure you sit up straight and don't put your elbows on the table. No one likes a sloucher. It's not a good look.
2. Place your napkin on your lap while eating then at the end of your meal, lay it beside your plate - don't fold it up.
3. The usual procedure for cutlery is to work from the outside inwards, but if you are ever in doubt, wait and watch what the first few people who start eating do.
4. Never, never dip or break your bread bread up in your soup.The correct thing to do is to put your bread on the side plate and break off bite sized pieces one at a time then butter each before you eat it.
5. Don't stuff your mouth full of food and don't talk with your mouth full. Seeing the contents of your mouth may well put the person opposite you off their meal.
6. While you are eating your meal, when putting down your cutlery, lay your knife and fork down with the prongs downwards and at an angle. Then when you have finished eating, place them side by side with the prongs of the fork pointing upwards in the 4 o'clock position (European style) or the 5 o'clock position (American) to indicate to your waiter/host that you have finished.
7. Make sure you hold your cutlery correctly! Don't hold them like pencils - make sure the handle of both your knife and fork are buried in the palm of your hand.
8. Never smoke during a meal - it is extremely bad manners. If you're absolutely gasping, wait until everyone has finished before you ask permission to smoke.
9. It's also very bad manners to reach over your fellow diners to pick up food or other items at the table. If you need something that is out of your reach, ask a fellow diner nearer to it to pass it to you.
10. Now we'll finish with the biggest no-no of table manners that I know. If someone is good enough to feed you then you eat what you are given! When I was a girl, people didn't have alot of food, so if you were given food by your host (even if you could spot a hair in it off the chin of the woman of the house) it was still considered the height of rudeness to refuse the food.
For this particular installment instead of our usual lady we have the pleasure of talking to our first fortnightly fella. He's a lovely rockabilly gent by the name of Tim and perhaps one of the most striking things when you get talking to him other than his sleeve of tattoos is his charming English accent. I first met him about a year ago when we were filming an ad for Vodafone, where Tim was playing his double bass and I was bopping along to the good tunes while chowing down on free pizza and beer. He's a very talented double bassist who has performed with countless bands and artists in Dublin. He collects old timey tattoos and has an impressive collection of band tshirts. To share a lesser known fact about him, Tim plays every Thursday night from 9 til 11 in Sean MacD's pub in Harold's Cross. It's well worth the trip out to see him play, enjoy a couple of drinks and then the bus stop back to town is right across the road with 5 bus routes to choose from to get you on your way home. 
