Sulkyblue's Blog

I'm receiving reports the red cups are here!

A new tv series from Joss Whedon, christmas at Starbucks, a pub lunch and only 2 days of work left... today is a good day!

I spent ages and ages trying to come up with some kind of structure to a series to accompany my circle of hell series. That was 9 articles loosely based on Dante’s description of the circles of hell in his Divine Comedy. I wanted to write a series to accompany these and take a more positive look at the world. Unfortunately Dante’s description of heaven didn’t really work well for me and I was finding it hard to shoe-horn my favourite places into his thoughts of loveliness, it would appear that my idea of niceness are somewhat different to those of a 14th century Italian poet. Although are irritations are similar. Go figure. Eventually I just decided that my favourite places were too important to me to try and wrestle them into someone else’s categories, so over the next couple of weeks, here are my some of my favourite places in no particular order.


Starbucks is a special place for me. There are few places that are so easily accessible almost anywhere that can reliably be used as a sanctuary from the rest of the world. During the worst day at work I can use the motivation of lunch at Starbucks as a tool to get me through the morning without killing anyone. It relieves the morning’s stress and prepares for the afternoon’s potential traumas.

I should point out that I don't actually like coffee. I'm not craving Starbucks in desperate need of a caffeine fix. I have it on good authority that their coffee is actually terrible. I tend to drink chai lattes in winter and mocha frappuccinos in summer. When I’m at my lowest I treat myself to a Signature Hot Chocolate, a drink so decadent that it should come with it’s own public health warning. I’ve never reached the point where I need one of those with whipped cream and sprinkles too; that’s being held back in case of complete disaster.

I’m not actually particularly enamoured of the food there either. The pastries and cakes are nice but not the subject of painful cravings such as I suffer for the Costa Chocolate Twists, the Prêt-a-Manger ham and cheese croissants or the Café Nero Pain au Raison. (Yes, considerable research has been performed). The sandwiches are usually stingy on the fillings and commit the cardinal sin of not putting content all the way up to the edges.

What I adore about Starbucks is the fact that I can sit in a comfy chair for a pretty much unlimited amount of time and read my book in peace. I have an hour-long lunch break and in most places once you've consumed your sandwich in half an hour you become the target of glares. In Starbucks though, when it starts to fill up people politely ask if they can take the seat opposite you, or even next to you on a sofa. Everyone smiles and gladly shares their space. Even when you are taking up prime real estate on a comfy chair with a plug socket no one really seems to mind, there’s the quiet acknowledgement that you probably need the space and should be left alone.

Working on Fleet Street the coffee shop density is sufficiently high that I can pick and chose exactly the kind of environment I want. I usually go to the slightly more distant Starbucks because it almost never fills up and has a cavernous basement with loads of comfy chairs. It’s possible the staff are starting to recognise me, but it’s hard to tell as they greet everyone like a valued customer. Even with a 15 person queue at 9.15 on a Monday morning they are polite, unflappable and accurate.

You can sit in comfortable tranquillity reading your book or newspaper, or even browsing the web if you are willing to pay the slightly exorbitant charges. The music is the very definition of easy listening at a pleasantly unobtrusive volume. Customers in inner city Starbucks treat the premises with reverence; even the business people having trendy meetings drop their voices in respect of the sanctuary of Starbucks.

Out of the city, or at weekends Starbucks can get a little more rowdy, it’s a wonderful place for meeting a friend for a gossip, collapsing with bags of shopping or perusing the Sunday papers. You do sadly run the risk of encountering a youngling invading your grown up paradise. But it’s still enough of a reward that I can be persuaded to drag myself shopping with the promise of blueberry cheesecake and a latte.

I have tried other coffee shops – Costa and Café Nero both have better sandwiches, but they (generally) have less armchairs. Both also fail to have the slick, customer service that Starbucks has mastered. Moving the drink serving away from the till removes a lot of the pile-up problems that can occur. While being served by someone with an Italian accent adds to the European feel, it’s less good when you have to repeat yourself three times. Also the chunky Starbucks mugs are just so comforting to hold, unlike those pretentious glass mugs some places use, I need the sensation of cuddling the mug.

Starbucks is my haven, nowhere else quite manages to sooth my nerves so effectively. If only their sandwiches were a little better I'd probably go there every day. I'd rapidly be bankrupt, but my blood pressure would be considerably lower.

I have been so bored this week that I've actually lost the will to blog. The boredom also means that I have been compulsively refreshing livejournal for things to read. This seemed a little hypocritical of me. So I bring you this startling announcement...

I found a new Starbucks.

It's on St. Thomas Street just opposite one of the entrances to Guys. This means it's actually the closest Starbucks to my office and takes about 5 minutes to get to as opposed to 10 minutes to get to the one on Clink Street.

It's a nice spacious Starbucks with a good amount of seating, but no comfy chairs. The italian/spanish/something Mediterranean staff were friendly and chatty although managed to mess up 1 out of 3 orders in the time I was there. The chai latte was (and actually still is) quite excellent, without too much froth. There was still a good selection of cakes and sandwiches left at 4pm although I was good and resisted.

So a good find for emergency afternoon requirements, but not so nice for lazy lunchtimes due to the lack of comfy chairs and a suspicion it gets quite crowded from Guys.

See, aren't you glad I posted!