Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East & Central London (The NEXT Chapter).

Week 167 Saturday 26 ^th  August until Friday 1 ^st September 2017.

Currently i work in a part of East London / Essex which i consider a Bermuda triangle for coffee lovers.  I spend far too much time and money in coffee shops, the public houses of the 21^st century.  Living in London it’s easy to be an addict because there are branches of the coffee giants on every high streets.  The area I am located in however is untouched by the large companies even though there is adequate electrical supply, complicated spoken language and money made of paper and metal, they haven’t used leaves and peddles in years.

  “Hanging around in Whitechapel”.

There are occasions when I am sitting in the comfortable bosom of the mega-corporation and notice outside a small indie coffee shop struggling in its shadow.  Quite why anyone would want to open a rival bean grinding establishment next door to an outlet who probably uses the milk from an entire herd in one day is beyond my thinking.  Of course, the indie might have been making drinks with a personal touch for a while when suddenly the corporate behemoth appears and literally sucks them dry.

   “The very flexible Tavaziva Dance Group”.    

With the big name’s there is something comforting about the fact that no matter which branch you visit the decors the same, the drink taste and look the same.  I’m a simple organism who knows what she likes and what I can expect for my hard-earned cash.  However, with an indie you never quite know what will be served up, it’s definitely more personal.  A couple I would like to mention are “La Gauloise” (Melcombe St) near Baker Street which has amazing cakes on display in the window.  Another favourite is “Tiny Tims” (5 Northgate) Rochester, Kent an establishment that severe up huge slices of homemade cake and unlimited caffeine top ups.  Cake does seem to be a running theme, I said I was simple.

   “The lovely Phil King”.

“Back in the coffee Bermuda triangle, while rushing through the station daily I noticed “EzO Bistro” which has shelve after shelve of books, a café with lots of reading material needed to be investigated.  Due to arriving for work early I used to sit on the platform listening to podcast’s while watching the world pass by.  These days I sit in the coffee shop sipping a drink, listening to a podcast, while reading a page or two about Mars (it’s going to take weeks to complete the book) and occasionally glancing at the world rushing by.  After a month of visiting the café the staff now only need to know what size of drink I want.

 “Chips and Cider on a Sunday by the Thames on a Bank Holiday weekend”.

The companies that charge a small fortune for a paper cup of gloopy surgery goodness who “may or may not” have questionable tax affairs will always entice me over their doorstep.  When they inform me that I am entitled to a “FREE” drink (which is of course not free when you factor in the number of full priced drinks that have had to be bought) I foolishly feel special.  Even though the staff are always pleasant I never feel that the service is personal in the corporate environment.  This is what the small independent café does so well, spending a little more time adding that personal touch.  Of course, when the next customer arrives they do it all again, it must be exhausting working in a coffee shop definitely a job I wouldn’t be good at.

  “Calamity and Lunge talking a lot of ball’s”. 

This got me thinking I really hope that the friendly barista washes their hands well after cleaning out the loo……  Just a thought I’ll leave with you.

 “Nuff said”….

And Now For Something Completely Different…… 

 “For a couple of seconds, i was in the lead”.

Last weekend the sun came out; this meant I was smeared in Factor 50, walking in the shade watching others sizzle.  For the second year running Calamity and I spent Sunday of the bank holiday weekend on the South Bank enjoying free entertainment at the River Stage organised by the National Theatre.  We managed to get good seats and saw “Tavaziva” a dance group, the beautiful music of “Phil King” who I met afterwards.  We finally enjoyed a recorded (earlier in the year) theatre performance of “Twelfth Night” with “Tasmin Greig”.  I’m not a Shakespeare fan, but still enjoyed the production, even if I didn’t understand every word because the “Ye Olde” script.  As I mentioned earlier, I’m simple.

And In Other News…… 

 “Writing this Shiz”.

To keep me sane at work I doodle.  Last week I was asked to do one for the lovely “These People Podcast”.  Last weekend I drew, painted and managed to rehydrate an old Pritt Stick ™.  The picture is basic, but a lot of fun to do.  The drawing has an embargo on it until the podcast is released so below is my original scribbled idea.

 “Top left it says Gatford, top right it says Aggy, the P means Penny and the L is for Lee”.

Here is a link for “These People Podcast”  www.thesepeoplepodcast.com your ears will love you.   

My Mid Life Crisis Conts…… 

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“60 Day’s In Jail”, (S2, ep 8).  “Angel”, (S1, ep 15 to ep 17).  “Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?”, (S1, ep 2: TX: 27/08/17).  “Bake Off: An Extra Slice”, (S4/S1, ep 1: TX 31/08/17).  “Being Human”, (S4, ep 7 & ep 8)(S5, ep 1).  “Detectorist”, (S2, ep 6).  “From Russia To Iran: Crossing The Wild Frontiers”, (S1, ep 1: TX 20/08, ep 2: TX 27/08/17).  “Gluck: Who Did She Think He Was?, (TX: 27/08/17).  “Lego Masters”, (S1, ep 1: TX 24/08, ep 2: TX 31/08/17).  “Live AT The NFT: Twelfth Night”.  “People Just Do Nothing”, (S4, ep 3).  “Strange Times: Videocast”, (ep 8: TX 23/04/14, ep 7: TX 01/04/14, ep 6: TX 28/03/14, ep 5: TX 14/03/14, ep 4: TX 03/03/14, ep 3: TX 23/01/14, ep 2: TX 22/01/14, ep 1: TX 17/01/14).  “The Crystal Maze”, (S7/S1, ep 4).  “The Golden Girls”, (S4, ep 1 to ep 4).  “The Great British Bake Off”, (S8/S1, ep 1: TX 29/08/17).  “Top Of The Lake: China Girl”, (S2, ep 2 to ep 6).  “Trust Me”, (S1, ep 4).        

This week I have mainly been listening to:   “Iain Lee: TalkRADIO (Bonus)”, (24/08, 30/08/17).  “Iain Lee: TalkRADIO (Highlights)”, (24/08, 25/08, 28/08, 29/08, 30/08/17).  “LBC Podcast: Mystery Hour”, (31/08/17).  “LBC Podcast: Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (26/08, 27/08/17, 01/09/17).  “RHLSTP”, (ep 143, 30/08/17).  “Scroobius Pip Distraction Pieces Podcast”, (ep 166, 30/08/17).  “Soundtracking With Edith Bowmen”, (ep 53, 26/08/17, ep 54, 01/09/17).  “Strange Times”, (ep 64, 07/07/14, ep 63, 30/06/14, ep 62, 22/06/14, ep 61, 16/06/14).  “The Aggy Fox Podcast”, (ep 9, 13/03/17, ep 18, 30/08/17).  “The Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (01/09/17).  The Rabbit Hole”, (ep 26, 31/08/17).  “Morrissey”,  “Queen & Bowie”,  “Moby”,  “Manic Street Preachers”,  “The Cheeky Girls”,  ”Bill Hailey”,  “Phil King”, The Killers”, “Noel Gallagher And The High Flying Birds”, The Artic Monkeys”.