Nobody likes a Starbucks show off!

It's been a while since I had a proper rant, or assigned a stereotypical behavior to a certain situation, so lets get a few things off my chest about Starbucks, or indeed any brand of Coffee House that you might find yourself in.

I don't belong here!

Unquestionably my main gripe is that I never feel "trendy" enough to be in such establishments.  The fact that I call them establishments and use the word trendy illustrates exactly why.

The problem being that I get sat down with my coffee and within 10 seconds I've usually spotted someone who meets the following criteria;

"Studious" or "well to do" looking male, wearing a scarf and probably some brown cords along with some cool looking footwear that I wouldn't even know the name of. He will be wearing thick trendy glasses - probably as a fashion statement only and they will really only have plain lenses in them!

This person will unquestionably already be glued to the only comfy brown leather sofa in the entire establishment. He has no doubt been sitting there since 8.00am and he doesn't plan on moving anytime soon!

And of course he will be waving his iPad around for all to see (his MacBook is probably in his satchel/man bag). If I could get close enough to see what he is reading on the iPad, I would guess it's probably Private Eye or The Spectator!

This is the sort of person that belongs in a Coffee House - not me!  The 17 year old kid behind the counter probably knows him by name and has his preferred beverage ready for him every single day when he arrives.

The only thing I have in common with this bloke is that I have an iPad, but I'm way too afraid to take it out anywhere with me or flash it around in public! I simply wouldn't dare!

Never mind though. At the very least, I can enjoy a great cup of coffee. Even though I probably have less time to enjoy it than he does, and because he's hogging the sofa - I'm having to sit in a cramped little table in the corner near the toilets!

Can you tell that I'm just jealous? Oh well!

Take care
Peter

The more things change..

Last weekend the boys went to stay with their Grandparents for the night, so Louise and I had some rare free time on our hands. We decided to pop into Newcastle for a little look around and a spot of lunch.

A couple of years ago, I posted this about Newcastle and talked about how much it had changed since I was a boy.  Whilst acknowledging that most of the changes were for the better, I also commented that I no longer enjoyed going into Newcastle for various reasons.

I have to admit that my feelings on this have changed entirely however.  Whilst access and parking are still a pain, I am really starting to enjoy going into the City again.

I especially like the new part of Eldon Square.  It is clean, and new and pleasant and of course it has The Apple Store.  There are lots of clothes shops to keep Louise happy, and I find that I can generally get some sort of WI-FI connection which keeps me happy too!

There is a Starbucks of course and I do love my coffee.  Starbucks kind of depresses me in a way though.  It reminds me that I am in no way cool!  You see a lot of cool people in Starbucks and they are not afraid to wear scarves (without coats) and use their iPads in public - I wish I was cool enough and bold enough to do that.  I'd never take my iPad out though - I'd be too afraid I'd lose it.

Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent here so back to the topic at hand.  We had a nice little wander round and I was particularly amused that you can now get into the basement of John Lewis and Boots from what used to be the George & Dragon/The bus station.  This little section also has a Pizza Express so we settled down to lunch there (which was a very nice salad) before heading back to the car and driving out along the Quayside and over The Swing Bridge.  The Olympic symbol which currently hangs from The Tyne Bridge looks really impressive.

So all in all a really enjoyable trip.  We popped home for an (unheard of) afternoon nap and then headed out to a great little restaurant close to where we live called The Black Horse.  A little naughty to eat out twice in one day but it was all good value and all great food and drink.  Louise had the most amazing Amaretto Coffee which I was more than a little jealous of.  Here are some pics from the day;

Now, it was my intention that this Blog be exclusively Technology based these days - but I must admit that I'm lacking a bit of inspiration these last few days in terms of tech post subjects. I'm sure I'll find my mojo again, but despite this post being a diversion from the usual subject matter - I was still able to mention The Apple Store, WI-FI, and iPad. I hope this makes up for it!

Take care!
Peter