Flat White (Photo By GeorgeMichaelFarewell – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66890818)

Dear Readers, for the past few weeks the house has been full of people replacing our tired and draughty windows, and this week we’ve started on getting them painted. When the painter came in to give us a quote, some mad impulse asked him if he could paint the bedroom and the kitchen cabinets as well. The end result is that, with one person sanding down the front of the house and someone else painting the back, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m better off in my local coffee shop. It doesn’t help that I’ve a crucial assignment coming up for my Open University course in a couple of weeks, so I have to make the time count. Today, dear Reader, I have been mostly learning about programmed cell death (Apoptosis) and the very, very many components that make the process up. If anyone wants to ask me about Bcl-2, Bax, Bak and Bid or PUMA just let me know, I’ll be glad to draw you a diagram :-).

Anyhow, all human life is here in the coffee shop, and very entertaining it is too. First up, there is a senior Barista (and she is mega-efficient) and a young woman who is a trainee, who is of course a tad slower. When some oaf told the latter to ‘hurry up’ this morning he was roundly cleaned by the former, who takes no prisoners. The oaf soon scuttled off with his tail between his legs while everyone in the queue suddenly found something very interesting on their phones. All except one elderly lady who commiserated with the trainee and told the oaf that he should ‘be ashamed of himself’. Hah!

Then there was the guy behind me who was participating in what was clearly a Zoom call about private initiatives in healthcare. I fear that he had a North American accent and very clear diction and a voice that I could have heard from the kebab shop across the road. There was some measure of tutting and eye-rolling but he continued oblivious until someone yelled ‘Save our NHS!’ and it occurred to him that he was in a public space.

A guy came in on his electric scooter, and the senior barista came over for a chat – the man didn’t look very well at all, and she chatted for a few minutes to see if he was alright. What a community hub this place is, like so many here in East Finchley, even though it’s part of a chain.

A lady came in with a small white dog wearing a ‘cone of shame’. She was incandescent after a small boy had apparently come over and tried to kick the dog. Goodness! The dog looked none the worse, fortunately, but the woman was furious, as I would have been too. On the other hand, I am furious when I see small children trying to chase and kick pigeons too, so it doesn’t take much to get me going. Then the Senior Barista told her that the dog would have to sit on the floor, not on the seat next to her, which she complied with with some muttering.

And now, I’ll have to head back to see what’s going on with the windows. We’ve chosen a very nice shade of green for the front door. It’s already green, but this is very slightly different so I’ll feel as if it was worth doing. And who could resist the opportunity for a bit of Shakin’ Stevens? You’re welcome 🙂