tonyh

david_carnell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- 'But I think what tonyh is getting at is....' Spot on, David. But I couldn't have explained it as succinctly as your good self.

katie1997 wrote: 'do [you] know that Gazzano's is in a traditionally (London-) Italian area?' Yeah - they've had a shop there since (I think) 1901! They were actually mentioned in a fascinating book I read a month or so ago about immigration in Britain through the ages - Bloody Foreigners by Robert Winder. Similarly, Song Que and the other vietnamese restaurants I alluded to also grew out of a local community. I know there's no chance of places like these opening on LL, but a chap can dream, can't he? SimonM Wrote: '350gms of Spring Espresso from that company would be ?9+ with delivery charges...' Errr...true. Which is why I wouldn't mail order unless it was with friends to spread the cost of P&P. As I happen to often be in the Smithfield/Barbican area, I tend to buy (at ?7 for 350g) from either Dose on Long Lane or the coffee cart in Whitecross Street. This cart is run by, among others, Gwilym Davies, who was the 2009 World Barista Champion (and their single espresso is 60p if we're talking costs). In fact the last three WBC's have all won using coffee roasted by Square Mile. It is expensive coffee (and similar in price to Monmouth's I think?), but that doesn't mean it isn't good value.I'll happily pay a surcharge for excellence. But I didn't mention them because of cost, but because they roast my favourite blend. You mentioned in your earlier post 'Jack's, Blackbird, the French cafe, Blue Mountain, the Peckham Rye cafe'. Fine places all, I'm sure (I'm ashamed to say I've only tried Blue Mountain) But I was thinking about the kind of hardcore bars set up by obsessive baristas with years of experience in the industry; the type who source a La Marzocco FB-80 espresso machine from Florence and compliment it with an Anfim Super Caimano burr grinder, who know that the milk should be microfoamed at 70?C and who travel the world in pursuit of the 'godshot'. If any of the above fall into that category, then I apologise for not championing their cause.

Yes, it really, really is 500g.I used to get Monmouth coffee all the time, but now I buy Square Mile - their Spring Espresso is brilliant. Check out their website:Square Mile Roasters And no, I don't believe EDD do stock things like zampone, coppa di testa and guanciale - but I haven't been in there in a while.

The undisputed number one 'little thing' that drives me ape is the phrase 'stonewall penalty', as popularised on Match Of The Day by Gary Lineker and which is now everywhere. There's no such thing as a 'stonewall' penalty. Unless, I suppose, the penalty was committed as a futile gesture of support for Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity. What whoever first coined the phrase meant to say was, surely, 'stone cold penalty', as in 'that was absolutely a penalty'. So in american crime fiction you'll get a 'stone cold killer' or a femme fatale who's a 'stone cold fox'. Other things: People who park in the disabled spaces in supermarket car parks (unless they're disabled, obviously). Any advert with 'Here Come The Girls' as the soundtrack. Cashiers who put the notes in your hand first, with the change on top, forcing you to slide the change into your other hand. The announcer on BBC 3 who says 'next on BBC 3 it's Family Guy but first here's a new episode of...'. Well it's not really 'next' then,, is it. People who play music on their mobile on the bus, while sitting next to you,instead of using earphones and an iPod.Like decent people. Like me. Any group of people that identify themselves as 'Team xxxxx'. There's an outfit that calls itself 'Team London Bridge', for example. I'll stop now to wipe the flecks of righteous spittle from my laptop screen. And mother says it's time to take my medication anyway.

At the moment, isn't Lordship Lane a bit of a Northcote Road wannabe, a Mark Wahlberg to Northcote's Matt Damon? It's doing pretty well, mind. You've got your upmarket butcher and fishmonger, your bakeries, a couple of delis, a Caf? Nero, a good wine shop, a kitchen shop selling the most ridiculously overpriced stuff, a Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a decent gastropub and one genuinely good restaurant (Franklin's). The Bobos have a rather touching, if fragile, pride in their SE22 postcode. The mummies with the superior weaponry of their three wheel attack buggies occupy the area's caf?s in much the same way that the Wehrmacht occupied France. But can the Lane's current demographic support much more in the way of restaurants? I'd suggest there's two factors precluding against it. Firstly, there's not enough money there, really, is there? The area's middle class are a little too, erm, 'crusty' still (no offence, I'm more than a little crusty myself, as well as completely potless to boot). Secondly, it seems to me that there isn't enough office/business activity around to sustain a really vibrant lunchtime trade. Maybe the Lane's current restaurant owners would tell us otherwise. But if I had my 'druthers, there would be: 1. A really good italian deli (think the wondrous Gazzano's on Farringdon Road). Coppa di testa, tomino, capacollo, burrata, luganega, torta di alpina, cotechino, asiago, guanciale, caciotta, zampone...lord have mercy! 2. An independent coffee bar like Dose or Lantana. Caf? Nero are arguably the best of the chains (and sell their espresso beans for a more than reasonable ?4.95 for 500g), but somewhere serving coffee from the Square Mile roastery would be very heaven. 3. A vietnamese of the standard of Song Que and the others in Shoreditch. That would do me I think.

Personally, I really like Sony Vaios: I have one myself at the moment and am really happy. Also, if style is important to you, they are, I think, the coolest designed PC laptop - you wouldn't be embarassed next to a Mac. Here's a link to the E series where you can configure to your hearts content: Vaio E Series Link If you go for all the bells and whistles, it works out at around ?930 (it starts at ?739). Just one more thing - I wouldn't worry about storage capacity on a laptop (although this one gives you 500GB), because you are going to want an external hard drive any way I'd think (if only for back up and recovery) and the 1TB and 2TB ones are pretty cheap these days. Good Luck