TASTES LIKE LOVE

Felicia DiSalvo, 21, flew all the way to Manchester for some British culture…

- KEZIA REYNOLDS & FINLEY MCKENZIE

Hearing the familiar ping of FaceTime connecting, I smiled.

I had been looking forward to speaking to my friend Zak all day.

We’d met in December 2021 online, and spoke every day.

Zak, 22, lived in Manchester while I was all the way in New York, US.

We’d become closer and closer as time went on.

I really loved talking to him.

‘Have you seen this?’ Zak said, jolting my thoughts.

My phone buzzed and I realised he had sent a screenshot of a Facebook page.

Only 22 chips… the caption read, and I realised people were counting chips.

I was intrigued.

‘What’s with the chips?’ I asked.

Wetherspoons Paltry Chip Count is a Facebook group whereby members count and post how many chips they received on their meal when dining in ‘Spoons.

I found it hilarious – did people really care how many fries they got?

Opening Facebook, I joined the group.

‘I’m intrigued,’ I told Zak.

Soon it was a running joke between us.

Sending each other screenshots of various posts, each complaining of the paltry number of chips on their plate.

After almost a year of speaking online and playing chess on online forums, I was keen to visit England myself.

My grandma was from Cornwall, so I had always felt a connection to the UK.