I visited Starbucks in Hammersmith on my way to one of the offices I work at, dear me, what is the world coming to? one of my pet hates is the Americanization (i think that spelling is from the US) of life in general, today it hit my Starbucks, having woken myself on the tube at the correct stop, rather than Ealing Broadway, where I awoke last week, I felt the urge for my favourite coffee, entered the shop top be greeted by an over cheerful female of the species who then opened her gob, and said "good morning sir, can I help you" which as an opening line is ok, but when delivered with a US accent I start to worry about how this conversation will end,so I ordered my drink and handed over the cash, at which point she ruined everything by saying "you have a nice day sir" aaaaarrrrgh and delivered with a wink, which then rendered me like Harry Enfields character in his recent show, now firstly I hate that sodding phrase and secondly, the bloody wink confused me, a man of may age being winked at by a 21 year old most confusing...... so ignored the woman based on that phrase and shuffled along to collect my coffee from some spotty youth hidden behind the coffee machine, the reason she is hiding there is so that us poor customers cannot a)see what she is doing and b) so as not to scare the customers with her chronic acne! of course I am speculating about b) as I could not see the coffee maker. SO off i trudged to my office, a 10 minute walk only to discover when I got there that half of the froth had vanished leaving me with half a cup of coffee...I feel cheated.

I finished at 1 and headed off to see a lady friend for lunch in Ealing, now I am sure I knew a limerick about a young lady from Ealing.....