It's all about the coffee

Double Coffee and Gherkin

This mornings coffee on the way to the office was from the notes chain, which have a coffee shop on the ground floor of the Gherkin. Below is a picture from the inside looking out as well as a selfie with the Gherkin ” A Gherkie”. The coffee was surprisingly good, at least a 7.5/10

It’s possible that it’s because it was my first morning coffee after a few pints last night that made it so good, rather than the quality of the coffee itself. Ones own perception of these things is impacted by many factors….

I had to pop out to Houndsditch Post Office again today to post home the second tsunami of books. I’m really thinking I should buy shares in Royal Mail as this is costing a right royal fortune in postage.

On the way back I passed secret frog coffee and the temptation was too great to resist. This coffee is great a decent 8/10. They sell coffee in cup sizes equal to the sizes at home for a similar price. This one was £2.85. I’ve been paying that or £3 for what would be a small or below small at home

On my way back I ran into Wilson and Rikesh from the office who got their coffee at “Association” coffee, right behind the Gherkin. This is another great coffee place that is rated highly by the Australian contingent in the office.

And of course since it was behind the Gherkin, another opportunity to provide the Obligatory Daily Gherkin pic.

Lunch was from the Japanese Canteen behind the Gherkin. This is right next door to “Association” coffee. This lunch spot is excellent and it’s extremely popular.

One more thing…

If you like my blog you will probably like my mate John’s blog. John and Perry are currently traveling through the USA and Canada. Here is the link

http://johnandperrystravels.blog

Travel

Pineapple Coffee

Coffee for me today was at a little Lebanese cafe restaurant early this morning where I took the opportunity to catch up with one of our software vendors whilst I was visiting the London office. The coffee was a real surprise, was way better than I expected, a decent 7.5/10

Later in the morning I acquainted myself with the Houndsditch Post Office. I’ll know the Royal Mail system quite well soon, as we bought a few more books than we expected and I’m posting a few home.

Whist I was in the office, Sharon and Emma did a bit more shopping in Bond St, bought some strawberries and ate them in Green Park, walked past Buckingham Palace, had lunch at Borough Market and then headed over to Pineapple Dance where Emma attended another dance lesson.

After work I had a beer with a few of the guys from the office in the Bell. Thankfully the Bell had re-opened after the car ran into it. Visiting the London office and not having a beer at the Bell just wouldn’t have been cricket. The Bell is a must.

Now that England are through to the next stage, it would seem most people here are just happy England made it further than Germany. Of course everyone still hopes to beat France, but they hasn’t stopped some of the World Cup jokes starting:

Q. What is the difference between Germany and a tea bag ?
A. Tea bags spend longer in the cup…

Walking back from the Bell, I managed to get a shot for the Obligatory Daily Gherkin.

I travelled down to Covent Garden, found Sharon and we had cocktails at a little drink wagon in the garden. Summer in London is just wonderful…..

When Emma had finished the lesson we had dinner at the Nag’s Head, another place we seem to visit yearly now.

And much to the amusement of my inner 13 year old, the trip back to the apartment involved a stint on the Piccadilly line

Oh, and one last thing. A funny comment I heard last night about the State of the UK. They are concerned they are turning into Australia. Makes sense when you consider some of the stats

Winning at Sport
Its a really hot summer
They have bush fires in the north
Concerns there could be a drought with water restrictions coming….

Uncategorized

Department of Coffee

Today I finally had coffee at a cafe I noticed two years ago but never got a chance to visit. This year I made time out of work to walk the 15 minutes up Bishopsgate’s road past Liverpool St Station to get coffee from the “Department of Coffee and Social Affairs”. It was a solid 7/10 but unfortunately I was a little underwhelmed given it was such a small coffee for £3 and the Gherkin coffee yesterday was closer and pretty good.

A cool name does not always equal an awesome coffee. Maybe my expectations were a little high

And let’s not forget the Obligatory Daily Gherkin. Today it combines coffee and bikes !

And the Gherkin tonight

The mood in London tonight was totally electric given the UK beat Colombia in the World Cup match to get into the quarter finals. Even I, one of the most sport agnostic people in the universe ended up in a pub watching the game on TV

Today Sharon and Emma visited Harry Potter Cash Extraction World. Updates on that to come later…

Travel

Broken Bell Coffee

I’m visiting our London office for a few days, so the amount of interesting things I’m posting about may decrease a little as most of my day will be consumed with work related items. However I did of course get out for my daily coffee which was had at the cafe in the bottom of the Gherkin so I’m able to combine the obligatory daily gherkin with the coffee report. Winning !

Whilst I was at work Sharon and Emma had breakfast then went up to Fortnum and Mason and Hatchard’s book shop. Emma spent a few hours at dance classes with Pineapple Dance in Covent Garden. Participating in a dance lesson here will likely be one of the highlights of her trip. Sharon popped into the Nag’s Head at Covent Garden for a G&T and when Emma had finished dancing went off to the M&M store and the Lego store.

Disaster has also struck here in London, the favourite watering hole of the office, “The Bell” had a car drive into it over the weekend and is out of action for a while. We paid them a visit over lunch and they are not sure when they will be trading again, its with the insurance company to work that out. We are all devastated, it’s just not the same with the Bell out of action.

After work we met up with my Cousin Kristy and her partner Mark for a fantastic dinner at Blanchette on Brick Lane. Fantastic French / North African fusion food.

Bus ride up Bishopsgate Road, top level

Travel

Coffee Bombs & Pestilence

Coffee today was had down at the Imperial War Museum near Elephant and Castle station. The IWM has five locations in the UK, three of them are in London (The other two are the Churchill War Rooms and the HMS Belfast). The IWM is on the old site of the Bethlam Royal Hospital (Often referred to as Bedlam). Coffee was 6.5/10

The museum has 5 levels of displays, the bottom level focused on WW1. This is where we spent the most time as it was relevant to some school assignments Emma was working on. Its interesting to compare the WW1 display here with what we have in Canberra. Here in the London museum, Gallipoli is barely covered and only warrants a small mention where for Australia its a nation defining moment and warrants significant space in our National War Memorial.

After a few hours at the museum we headed back to the apartment, grabbed some sandwiches for lunch then headed out on a Fire, Pestilence & Plague walking tour organised by http://freelondonwalkingtours.com. The tour was very good starting at the fire monument and ending up near St Paul’s. The tour covered much about the fire and plauge

How and where the fire started
How building methods contributed to the deadly ferocity
Why it spread
The incompetence of the authorities that allowed it spread as far as it did,
how the French & Dutch were initially blamed (with one person hanged)
Where it eventually stopped
The spark the started the London Banking, Finance & Insurance industries
How many streets got their name
Why pudding lane should really be called Rotting Animal Guts Lane
Where and when the plague took hold
Where the burial plots are

The tour was well worth doing, its “free”, however nothing in life is free and especially not in London. The guide explains that its expected that if you enjoy the walk you will leave a tip. No problems with that, it was a fantastic two hour tour. We also learnt about a massive Roman amphitheatre that was discovered where the public can view the ruins on a Thursday.