Tag Archives: Starbucks

May 22 2012

A new way of working?

There’s a new word – “freeroamer”. It’s used to describe a laptop or iPad user who doesn’t have the restrictions of an office (with its incumbent commitment and rent!). Instead he or she runs a business from one of the plethora of coffee shops which now have free wi-fi.

Most people who know me realise my day starts in Costa Coffee (it used to be Starbucks but they don’t have wi-fi at my local store). I can get an essential caffeine boost, breakfast, warmth and a connection into the world through wi-fi. I have noticed an increase in numbers of people logged in this way. They aren’t necessarily chatting on their phones though – it seems to be email…

Then if I call later I can do a meeting – get good coffee again and if we need it – plans or documents on my iPad. The coffee shop is a great meeting place. We don’t even have to wash up!

It’s become a new way of working. There are some statistics which suggest 1.3 million people now work this way. Of course it offers the ultimate in flexibility. And perfect conditions!

And there’s a new class of worker too – the Bleisure Brigade – those blurring business with leisure. People who work flexible hours (not like the Cvil Servants in my blog yesterday) but also in flexible places. They can move from coffee shop to coffee shop. The key element is the wi-fi connection. It has become critical now – and the coffee houses have finally grasped it. Free wi-fi and Costa-Lot coffee!

Apr 26 2012

New York – 2012 – part one

This morning I leave Blighty for Manhattan Island. Some have suggested I have stirred enough of the Mayor debate up that I need to leave the City. Whereas some fine citizens get the key to the City I managed to get barred from filming with the BBC in ‘my own’ Castle. I found it amusing. It’s now my claim to fame!

But the trip was arranged some weeks ago, when Virgin dropped their flight prices to half of what they were in March when I blogged about the coincidental pricing arrangements between Virgin and BA. In fact it is the cheapest I have ever paid.

So, it’s across the pond for a few days. To the City that never sleeps.

As we have been discussing the Mayor in Nottingham over the last few weeks I was reflecting on the Mayoral position in New York. In the easy days when I went it was a very different place – crime was high and feeling safe was not how you felt. The Subway was out of bounds and going past 100th was considered suicide.

But Guiliani was credited with changing that. He cut crime and made the place safe again. He cleaned the City up.

I wouldn’t dream about travelling other by the subway. We have been into the Bronx. In some ways i think it is safer in New York than in Nottingham on a Saturday night! The Police presence is high – they are on every corner and at rush hour on station platforms. It’s zero tolerance.

So for the next few days, The Big Apple is home. It’s a chance to see some art, some music (I’ll blog about that later!) and lot’s of coffee shops. I get to go to some great independent music shops – and buy some more vinyl. A trip to John’s Pizza is essential as is the Milk Bar in the Chelsea Flower Market. The High Line is great at dusk.

I really ought to write my guide book this time…

Nov 6 2011

Miles and hours

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?

Sep 10 2011

A five star meal

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…

May 28 2011

The wobble happened….

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?

May 23 2011

A real dilemma?

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!

Mar 20 2011

Shanghai – the final day

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!

Mar 19 2011

Shanghai – Day 3

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…

Feb 6 2011

I love public transport…

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.

Nov 27 2010

A very Green supercar (sort of)

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!