Coffee

I like my Thursdays. Thursday is the day I do sessional hours for YIP (who I work for) in Battersea. I like them for a few reasons. The kids I work with 1 on 1 there are really good kids. We do a table tennis club which I really enjoy and I don't start to 12:30. Now, in the past I would probably have used this as an excuse to stay in bed for as long as possible, but not any more. Now what I do (at least until my new job starts) is leave at the usual time, get on the bus to Clapham Junction and spend the 30 minute bus ride with my ipod and a book. When I get to Clapham Junction, I spend an even more enjoyable hour before work sat in cafe nero drinking coffee and reading. This is a great way to start the day, especially since I get to drink some really good coffee, which as many of you know, is something that I really like to do.

I don't understand people who don't like coffee, it's a wonderful drink. Now please understand that when I say coffee, I'm not talking about that instant stuff that tastes almost, but not quite entirely unlike real coffee, I'm talking about cappacino's, esspresso's, americano's, real, ground, fliter made coffee and I would encourage anyone that doesn't drink coffee or thinks that they don't like coffee having tried kenko once.

There is definitely a coffee drinking culture in London. Coffee shops are busy, cool and generally places where people hang out during the day in the same way that people hang about pubs in the evening. But on Thursday I heard and saw something that makes me think that maybe, things have gone too far.

There was a lady with a pram in front of me in the line at nero's. The child in the pram can't have been more than 2 years old. She ordered a regular cappucino and a babycino. I had to do a bit of a double take. I'm pretty sure I know nero's coffee menu very well, I've never heard of a babycino. I was also pretty sure that surely something that ridiculous didn't exist and that the guy making the coffee would say that he had no idea what the lady was talking about. He didn't. He actually said 'of course' and turned away to make the coffee. I checked the menu. There was no 'babycino' on it. I wondered what it was, thinking that surely they don't make coffees for kids, that would be silly. But of course, we live in a sometimes ridiculously silly world and apparently a babycino is just a cappucino,served in a small, take-away type cup, for kids. The lady took her drinks and sat down, with kid on her lap, and they drank there coffees together.

Like I said, coffee is good. But surely this is a step too far.