Random weekend observations over coffee

I spend a lot of time in coffee shops and thus drink a lot of coffee. I am onto my 4th large coffee of the weekend. Sitting in coffee shops in central London gives me the opportunity to observe the world, hear peoples' comments and conversations and watch odd behaviour.

I've noticed a lot of people only come into Starbucks to use the toilets and if they have to ask for a code, they don't, they scurry out, looking guilty and confused.  The Starbucks I'm in now is popular with the street drunks of Charing Cross, the toilet doesn't need a code (I wish it did).

The Chinese woman sitting right next to me (but opposite) is tapping her straw far too hard on the table, she clearly wants attention. I can feel the tapping through my table, yes she is doing it that hard.

The Starbucks has a display with samples of new sandwiches, one guy wearing a gold crucifix and camper than John Inman on speed has just ate a whole one despite them being cut into small samples sized pieces. 

People don't like you to talk to their kids.  Over the weekend two different families were sitting next to me in the coffee shop and their curious toddler was being nosey, looking over, curious about my computer etc. like all toddlers, I smiled, said hello and waved.  Both times, the father glared at me as if I was a weirdo. Now I know the world has some horrible people in it who would harm children but there is no need for people to overreact in safe public space if someone gives their child attention. I don't recall it being that scary when I was a toddler. We spoke to everyone and were surely as curious as kids today? I would feel worse if I had ignored the kid.

On Facebook there is a page about my old comprehensive school and one of the threads is about the PE teacher who I hated, he was a bully but is seems many of the girls at school loved him and his legs because he gave them attention. It seems it was ok to be a bully and homophobe as long as you told the girls they were pretty!? The people praising him for being a flatterer are stupid and wouldn't accept his behaviour if it were there own kids, would they?

Brexit continues to be no less divisive now than it was when we voted to leave the EU.  Over the past few days internet trolls have called me a traitor etc.  It seems that voting against economic suicide is considered treachery and not being paranoid about our EU neighbours makes me a traitor to my Englishness, well there is no such thing as 100% Englishness, I, like most 'English' people are mongrels, we are a mix of Irish, Scottish, Celt, Danish, German, French etc. There are also Jews, Huguenots, Dutch, Poles all included in that mix. To consider yourself 100% English and stand outside a mosque with your flag is truly pathetic and isn't an English quality at all.  Just look at this photo taken in the early 1960s, it is my grandma (nana) and 5 of her 7 siblings and their mother, now do they look 'English'? 

They were formidable women and the story of the day this photo was taken is a truly soap-opera story that I will put down on here one day.

My blog has now been viewed over 15,000 times, thank-you to my 5 or 6 loyal followers ha ha, some of you live in countries that I've never visited or know people in. Amazing really.

September 25th, 2017