Tag Archives: Starbucks
I thought I would monitor my cars performance during October and have observed the following:
1. I worked 21 full days (some of them longer than others) and then some Saturdays.
2. I drove 1,767 miles
3. My car says I spend 61 hours and 45 minutes attached to it – thats just over 8 days in English money!
4. It also says I averaged 29mph – not exactly fast! But quicker than a chicken.
5. I spent £335 on diesel – ouch.
6. We managed an average mpg of 33.8mpg – much better than my RS4.
7. I went to Guildford, Wakefield, The Isle of Wight, Manchester as well as lots of places around Nottingham and the East Midlands. I can’t recall them all as I lost my diary when I upgraded to the Cloud… thanks Apple.
8. I drank more Costa Coffee than can really be considered healthy, and managed only one Starbucks - which is a volte face.
I need to spend less time attached to the car I think?
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1 comment | tags: apple, averages, East Midlands, Guildford, Isle of Wight, Manchester, MPG, MPH, Nottingham, Starbucks, Wakefield | posted in Business, Green stuff, Grumpy Old Man!, Nottingham
From my (first) post yesterday you will perhaps recall that I promised you a story about our evening meal in Istanbul.
We were all rather hungry (I had survived somehow on one Starbucks, one other cappuccino and a beer).
I can’t remember what we used to do without iPhones – but Trip Advisor was consulted and the number one restaurant was a short distance from us. It is called Meze by the Lemon Tree. It was superb. I always wonder about Trip Advisor – as I think it is a site in danger of having spoof reviews (good or bad) made by the staff… So a hefty bucket of salt is needed. But not on this occasion.
The restaurant is tiny – it has just 8 tables – we were lucky in getting in – the owner was personable and wanted to help us – especially as we had come 1600 miles! Mezes are appetisers of small dishes of vegetables, seafood and meat. If the colours and textures are amazing – the taste is better. The main course was then meat and seafood which was also great, but the desert was a calorie counters worst night mare. It was a special dish of banana, cream, pastachios, ground hot pepper – you had to share it! Wine was a Turkish Tempranillo – excellent. Turkish coffee to finish and then the bill.
If this had been Nottingham I think it would have been £60 each, in London I guess – £80-100.
It was less than £30 including the tip.
And honestly, this is one of the best meals I have ever had… so if you are in Istabul you must go…
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1 comment | tags: Food, Istanbul, London, Meze, Meze by lemon tree, Nottingham, Restaurant, Starbucks, Turkey, Turkish coffee, turkish delight | posted in Business
I admit it. I went to Costa this week – twice. A free drink on Thursday (it was family and friends day – I was an honorary friend) and a paid for one on Friday. Both at the new drive through at Castle Marina in Nottingham. I was worried about this earlier in the week. It felt dirty.
The UK's first Costa drive-through
The new store, I have to confess, is rather good. It is new after all. It is better inside than Starbucks – which was last upgraded a few years ago. It now looks tired at the side of Costa. There is more bad news for Starbucks – Costa will have wi-fi fitted, it wasn’t working yesterday as they were having some technical issues… But the technical issue at Starby’s is that the numpties at Sainsbury’s say wi-fi interferes with their till system (I think not).
I understand that this is the first Costa drive-through in the UK. Six more are planned this year, but Nottingham has the first past the post badge.
The new Nottingham Best Buy store
Next door, Best Buy opened too yesterday. I didn’t bother early in the morning as they were queuing! And this morning someone called Alesha Dixon is singing. I have no idea who she is.
The store seems to have taken an age to open, which is not surprising as it is cavernous inside. The staff are `ll really friendly and are apparently expert in all manner of technology. I should imagine that Currys, Comet and PC world will be quite worried…
Just thinking through my coffee issue, I wonder if I could go and sit in Costa with my take-away Starbucks?
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Leave a comment | tags: Alesha Dixon, Best Buy, Costa, Costa Coffee, Currys, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Sainsbury's, Starbucks, Wi-Fi | posted in Business, Grumpy Old Man!, Nottingham
My choice of (legal) drug is caffeine. Days are not great if I don’t have my essential Starbucks in a morning.
You will find me at Castle Marina most mornings; it’s on my way to the office and the staff know what need want. I don’t need a long chat, it’s easy – Grade Cappuccino. Most of the staff know…
And people who say it’s bad for you are wrong – there’s a new study out which suggests it may actually be good for you. It is certainly good for my office – as it makes me a smiley happy person when I arrive!
There are some downsides. I have to tolerate numpties who can’t park for toffee in Sainsbury’s car park. They don’t get the white lines thing – or they believe that straddling is a prize-winning exercise. And they don’t have wi-fi in Starbuck’s because Sainsbury’s reckon it will blow their tills up. Which is clearly utter rubbish. But they are not for reasoning with apparently. More numpties. I’m not sure how I can tolerate these things?
The dilemma is that Costa open this week at the back of Sainsbury’s on the retail park. It’s a brand new shiny store – which has a drive-in facility. It is going to apparently have wi-fi. And you can park outside.
The down-side? – the coffee is not as nice as Starbucks. But … could I adapt to the taste?? A dilemma for the week – I may just venture in for a nosey!
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8 comments | tags: Castle Marina, Coffee, Costa, iphone, Lady Gaga, Nottingham, Shopping, Starbucks, Wi-Fi | posted in Nottingham
My second trip to Shanghai comes to an end today with a long flight back to the UK this morning. It is an odd flight because it takes around 12 hours, but I ‘win’ back the hours I lost travelling East. So I take off at 11.30am Shanghai time and land (hopefully) at Heathrow around 4.00pm UK time.
The Butcher of Shanghai
Yesterday I had a day to myself – what my office colleagues would call a ‘Jolly’. But it was Saturday!
My day started in the Lanes of Taikang Road – I went there last time I was in Shanghai. I think it’s a great place – lots of narrow lanes to get lost in. The place is mainly ‘art’ orientated but the coffee at Kommune was as good as my Starbucks tipple. The food market left me a little queasy – although they will kill the animals for you. Fresh isn’t the word. I had light lunch at the Liuli Museum nearby – the building is great and the food wasn’t bad either.
The metro in Shanghai is brilliant for getting around – and is very cheap – around 27p or 37p depending on how many stops you go. It got me across the River into Pudong where I wandered around the Financial District. The tallest building in China is here – The World Finance Centre – all 101 floors of it. By 2014 it will have been usurped though – by the building next door which will stretch to 128 floors and be 200m higher!
Next was probably one of the worst bits of Shanghai – The Bund Sightseeing tunnel. I can only describe this as a tunnel with fairly lights. It was truly awful. I can only describe it as a 2 minute ride into a 1970′s disco. It features now at the top (or bottom?) of my World Class Attractions (not) category.
It didn’t take long on The Bund for me to find the Rolex Dealers – and £30 for a Gold Perpetual Oyster isn’t bad? I could have had a Louis Vuitton bag too – but I was concerned about how much I could carry back.
My day finished back in Xiantiandi – to meet up with some of the Conference goers I had met this week for dinner… How quickly the time has gone!
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Leave a comment | tags: China, Louis Vuitton, Pudong, Rolex, Shanghai, Starbucks, Taikang Road, The Bund, Virgin Atlantic, Xiantiandi | posted in Business, Nottingham, Shanghai
Having made the mistake of the train on the first day of the conference I am attending to reach the Ever-Rich Hotel, yesterday I grabbed a cab – just less than £10 for 26km! And door to door!
The French Concession Boutique Shop
It was my day to speak at the Conference I am attending; my subject was “Do Green Buildings attract a premium price“. It could be a short talk when you answer “No.” But I thought I had better explain… I will spare you the technicalities – but the market seems to be applying a slight discount to ‘green’ buildings at the moment. I tried to explain as best I could as to why this was happening. I am hoping it didn’t get lost in translation. I did get quizzed on my assumptions! It may have been a controversial-ish subject at a ‘green’ conference!
I enjoyed some of the other speakers too. I was really interested in some of the work Hyder are doing out in China – they ‘master-plan’ Cities. I mentioned in my last blog that 400 new Cities are being built. This must be fascinating work to start a City from scratch! But perhaps the most fascinating talk was from the Chairman of The Cross Flow Energy Company – they have designed a new wind turbine and are in the final throes of getting the development completed. It will bring a new look to wind farms!
The conference closed and I departed Jiading – back into Shanghai.
After dropping all of the brochures and business cards at my Hotel, I went in search of Starbucks (!) and then headed into the French Concession – a totally different part of Shanghai. It reminds me of the East Village in New York. As the light faded I decided this was not the place to hang around! A Taxi took me back to the sanctity of the Hotel and so ended my third day in Shanghai.
I have one more day left to explore this mad place…
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Leave a comment | tags: China, Conference, Green issues, Jiading District, New York, Shanghai, Shanghai French Concession, Starbucks, University of Nottingham | posted in Business, Green stuff, Shanghai
I blogged last year about a train journey I endured – and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to do it all again last week. Manchester beckoned…
It was an early train – which does not go down well. Nottingham Station in the sunshine isn’t pretty – in the dark and wet it’s just miserable. And then they take £9.40 off you to park your car – it was £9 last April.
The train resembled the Doctors surgery – I think there had been a deliberate attempt to assemble all of the ill people they could find and confine them to this little carriage. A cough or running nose seemed to come free with the ticket. I really need a cold right now. Sometimes it’s not good to share.
Then there was the drinks trolley. Manned by a man in a polyester suit and clip-on tie – you can buy a cup of ‘hot’. I’m not entirely sure what it was – just ‘hot’. It certainly wan’t Starbucks. “Hot” was masked by those Dairystix and sugar. The effect was minimal. They should have paid me.
A tin of Stella might have been a better option. For lots of reasons!
I did get a free copy of Metro – which had been read by someone else. And they had done the Sudoku – until they got to the point it didn’t add up – when they wrote “Horlicks” (I think) across the page. And it was the simple one.
Some students got on – which was total surprise bearing in mind it was well before elevenses. The had brought their “stuff” though – in those giant suitcases. They should really book a seat for the things, but much cheaper to block the aisles. They were incredibly chipper for the time of day. Irritatingly so.
I think the car has a lot going for it.
PS – when I got to Manchester I had to have two cups of Starbucks to recover.
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Leave a comment | tags: East Midlands Trains, Manchester, Starbucks, Sudoku | posted in Business, Green stuff, Grumpy Old Man!, Nottingham
I learned two phrases a couple of weeks ago. Firstly ‘crunchies’ and secondly ‘mamil’s’. Neither I had heard before.
A proper Maserati!
The first is a reference to the ‘Crunchy Granola’ eating middle classes who think it trendy to change their lifestyle to ease our impact of the environment. Thus a ‘crunchy’ will give up a car to travel by bike. Or perhaps swim the channel rather than go by ferry?
Then there’s the ‘Mamil’ – which is a similarly modern phenomena. Apparently it is a ‘middle aged man in lycra’. This is usually for bike riding purposes apparently.
Hmmm. I like my Honey and Granola Greek yoghurt in the morning at Starbucks – and you need lycra kit on my road bike – otherwise you don’t go very fast?
Then I spotted a new Maserati at the weekend – one of my favourite Italian cars. But this is not a car – a bike. The Montante – in a limited edition of 200 and sporting fixed gears, red leather (as used in the car) for the handlebars, saddle and toe straps. Painted in a wine colour and with disc brakes It looks superb. Much like the car range.
The only small issue is the price tag – £2,500. Assuming you can actually get one as demand is expected to outstrip supply.
But you would look good in Lycra on it?
And like a supercar it might best live inside until the sun is out – which I am guessing will be next May at the earliest!
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Leave a comment | tags: crunchies, Crunchy, Green, Mamil, Maserati, Starbucks, The Montante | posted in Green stuff
I am one of 16.8 million people who have a Nectar card. I wonder why.
I got sick of being asked about 2 years ago – so fell into the marketing trap. I am a card carrying member. And I do remember to use it.
I pick my lunch up and buy my Petrol (now diesel) at Sainsbury’s store at Castle Marina in Nottingham. Well, I do until they close Starbucks – at which point I will go somewhere else as a point of principle.
I digress. I must have spent thousands of pounds in the last couple of years so enquired about my balance. I have never cashed it in. My reward?
£20.41
Well that has really been worth it. Twenty quid. For my ‘loyalty’. Wow. Two tenners.
I suppose it’s better than nothing, but is this really the reward I get for all those trips? All that clogging of my wallet – all that fumbling around?
What a complete and utter waste of time. And I have let them watch my predictable spending habits – petrol, food, petrol, food, petrol, food, petrol…ad nauseum. I hope they have enjoyed the experience.
I am going to cash the thing in to buy a tee shirt – pictured. And then I’m going to cut the card up. And join the facebook group here.
I hate Sainsbury’s. Again.
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5 comments | tags: Castle Marina, Loyalty cards, Nectar, Nottingham, Sainsbury's, Starbucks, tee-shirts, Tesco Clubcard | posted in Grumpy Old Man!, Nottingham
You may guess that I write my blogs at various times of the day (and night) – mostly on my trusty macbook pro. WordPress lets me publish at any time – genius!
When I started writing I used ‘word’ as most people do. It is the omnipresent word processor.
Remember these?
But for the last six months or so I have used a programme called Ommwriter. It is brilliant – it has a really simple interface and is designed to avoid distractions. There’s not much to it in the ‘less is more’ style. It will even play plinky plonky music to you!
Then this week came an upgrade and It looks as good as before but this new version is called OmmDana.
I love it for writing blogs. The new chromatherapy background and typewriter sound are great. It does let you concentrate on writing, you can’t embolden or italicise text! It’s just about content.
Sometimes we get bogged down in complicated stuff in our lives. I love the fact that this does what it says on the tin – it just gets your thoughts onto digital paper.
And best of all the basic version is free. The upgrade is offered at a price you set with a suggested price of $4.11 (£2.57) – about the same as a cup of Starbucks finest!
Oh, did I mention that it’s only for mac… sorry beige box people… one day you will understand!
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5 comments | tags: Apple. PC, Blogging, blogs, Dana, Omm, Starbucks, Writing | posted in Business, Nottingham
