It's no secret that I spend a lot of time in cafes. I can't really remember when it started. It wasn't something we did when I was a child, and for a long time I didn't have spare money for such frivolities, certainly not when I was at university. For several years I was vegan, and back in the late nineties it was definitely not cool, and the only vegan snack you could get (other than fruit) was a Fry's Chocolate Cream or a speciality flapjack from Holland and Barratt. As I'm writing this a vague memory is coming through, of my first trips to Liverpool as a teenager, buying a Big Issue and sitting in the cafe in Quiggins with a hot chocolate, or in the cafe at the Bluecoat gallery, or in the Thornton's cafe at Central Station. I would have been maybe fifteen or sixteen, so maybe this isn't such a new habit after all. There was a pause once I got to university though, partly veganism, partly lack of money, and then I don't remember any serious cafe visiting until I moved to Sheffield in 2003. I started my PhD with quite a few other new people, and we hung around in the Students' Union cafe reading and watching the world go by. My cafe habit became seriously entrenched when I met Peter though. At first just on holidays and days out, but eventually we found cheerfulness in a weekend cafe trip, and when we nearly went mad renovating our old house, our local cafes gave us a refuge to run to (and a nice bit of cake). The cafes we frequent have changed over the years of course. We haven't been to the cafe at the city farm since we moved house, and our favourite cafe in Sheffield closed down not long after we left (were we really keeping them afloat??) We found a new home in a cafe in our new local village, but that closed too last Christmas. Recently we've settled on a cafe in a bookshop, not far away, as our new favourite place. It's busy, so we have to get there when it opens, especially if we're going to get our favourite seat. Recently the card machine had broken and we walked out without paying (oops!) - the staff left a note about the 'regular morning sofa couple' and so that's now how we refer to ourselves too. Of course it can get expensive, all this cafe visiting. We're generally not too extravagant, we have tea and toast (or cake) rather than a fancy lunch, and spend between £5 and £10 each time we're in there. We've contemplated giving up, or at least cutting back, but as vices go, this is a fairly tame one, and we are fortunate that we can make room for it within our budget. It helps that we rarely go to the pub, the cinema, or anywhere else that requires paying to get in. Our favourite cafe is opening again today after a short break for Christmas, and you can bet we'll be there when it opens. I'll take a book, Peter will take a crossword, and we'll sit mostly in silence, drinking our tea and eating our breakfast. A most satisfactory start to the day.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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