Madam, - I was somewhat taken aback this morning when I received my bill for breakfast in a well-known Dublin 4 hotel. For the lavish feast of four cups of coffee, four rounds of toast, and two fried eggs we were charged the unlikely sum of almost €65. The two eggs alone cost €26 plus service charge! Taking the average cost of an egg at around €0.20, this is a mark-up of about 6,500 per cent - not a bad margin in anyone's book.
As I walked out to the car, feeling as if I had just been mugged, I wondered if my eggs had been laid by the goose that lays the golden eggs I've heard so much about, and whether or not the Berkeley Court Hotel had to train said goose to assist with their practice of daylight robbery.- Yours, etc,
JOHN BECKETT, Belgrove Park, Mount Prospect Lawns, Clontarf.