A flurry of activity ...

... distant voices shouting, pushing away the cobwebs only to then fade away to their new websites, leaving the Starbucks Blog once again in silence.

Me too

Well if we're in the business of shameless self-promotion, I'll jump right on board.

www.lowfidelity.co.uk

Same place as it's always been, but now with a new look, and more importantly, new content (as well as an archive of the way things used to be).

Thanks for your attention.

New Website!

Hi there. I know I've technically closed this blog, but I figured a trackback to my new website couldn't hurt my ratings ;o)

Feel free to visit me at:

olitee.com

or read my welcome message at:
http://blog.olitee.com/index.php/2009/01/welcome-to-oliteecom/

The red cups are coming ... again!

I was in Starbucks today thinking ... "Hey look, the red cups are here", which in turn got me thinking .... "Hey look, none of us have bothered to post anything on this blog in over a year now!"

I'm throwing in the towel. The stress and pressure to keep coming up with new and exciting stories to blog about are too much. I can't go on.

I feel it is the end of an era. A short era, but an era none the less.

I will remember it well. Goodbye Starbucks Blog.

- THE END -

The red cups are coming!

Now this post is going to be a little... erm, random, but bear with me.

The family Lacey made an intrepid expedition over to Bradford to show off baby George, and we spent almost two hours in the little Starbucks in Centenary Square (not sure why I'm telling you this, as at least 50% of the readers of this blog were present so know this fact already).

Now it was whilst I was there that I noticed the board outside that said "The red cups are coming!" on it. Now obviously this means that it's nearly Christmas, and 'Bucks will be rolling out their Christmassy cups any time now (if they haven't already). I said to Mrs L that we'd have to make sure we came back nearer Christmas to see everyone again and maybe do a spot of shopping. And then I got thinking of Christmasses we have known and loved... (standby for nostalgia!)...

Some of my best memories of working in Bradford are of Christmas time - and somehow or other Starbucks features quite heavily in these memories. Maybe we just spent more time in there to get out of the cold wet weather or maybe those red cups and Chrimbo decorations really did get to me! I remember many a happy lunchtime sitting in the Waterstones Starbucks, looking down on the punters doing their Christmas book shopping, chatting, and then venturing out to do some Christmas shopping (or probably just browsing) of our own. Strangely, Starbucks played an integral part of the annual Christmas party too - I seem to remember heading to 'Bucks in between the lunch part and the evening part and spending a leisurely couple of hours sobering up from lunchtime excess and preparing to get even more hammered in the evening! Ah, happy times.

I realise that it probably never happened like this, but it did in *my* head. Anyone else?

Needless to say, we'll definitely be heading over in December for Christmas coffee-related shenanigans. And when we do, I want you all to have the afternoon off so we can do it properly. Okay?

Yeah baby!

At last, Baby Lacey has arrived! We've got a beautiful little boy called George William. He was born on Saturday 6th October at 3.14pm, weighing 7lb 8oz. Katey took a photo of me with him just after he was born which I think illustrates how made up I am!

Results are in ...

Well there you have it ...

While we patiently await news from the Laceys, the official results of the StarbucksBlog Poll are in.

The most popular drink is:

AMERICANO!

Closely followed by one of those nasty, frothy cappuccino things.

Wasn't that exciting? Shall we do another one? I await your suggestions :o)

Oli.

Nothing to report

There's nothing going on here. At all. But I'll keep you posted...

Old skool

Today, I went to Boots and bought a meal deal. I had a ham and emmental sandwich, prawn cocktail crisps and a raspberry and cranberry Innocent smoothie. Jolly nice it all was too. The only reason I mention it is because it's the first meal deal I've had since leaving the museum, and it kind of evoked a certain amount of nostalgia. Almost made me want to spend the afternoon in Action Zone Two, surfing the internet, sorting out felt-tip pens and generally avoiding work. This was not to be however, and instead I went to Ikea and bought furniture.

Just like the old days... but with new stuff.

Well, I knew that sooner or later we'd get round to it. I made the lengthy and perilous journey from Harrogate into the dark lands of Bradford in order to see my ex-colleagues for tea and medals (turned out to be just coffee and cheesecake though).

However, I felt that this was of such note that I should commemorate its occurrence with a post to this here interwebblogthingummydoodad.

So erm... yes. Here I am. We had coffee. And it was good.

On a more important and far more satisfying note, I hereby proclaim that I am to be a father. And here's a blurry black and white picture to go some way to proving it:


So there you go. A mini-me. What a terrifying thought.

Dusty shit...

Jesus, look at all the dust and cobwebs in here! What is this place? Looks completely deserted by the look of it. Can't have been anyone here in years.

Hang on... what's this sign here? Just let me rub the dust off it...

"STUCKS LOG"? Eh? That doesn't make any sense... ah, hang on, there's some more letters under here... yep, that's better.

"STARBUCKS BLOG". Nope, still doesn't make any sense.

And what's that over there? Eugh... I think that used to be some kind of fish in a bowl. Bit crispy now though.

Ah well, the batteries in this torch are running out. No way I'm staying here in the dark on my own. It's creepy. Maybe I'll come back with a search party.

Blogger -> Google

Erm ... I fear I may have slightly messed things up here on the Starbucks Blog. I've just been offered the chance by Blogger to upgrade my blog to the latest version ... which also means switching to a Google login account, as oppose to the one I use for Blogger.com...

They're only offering the upgrade to a small percentage of users at the moment - so I didn't want to pass up the oppertunity...

What I conveniently forgot was that the Starbucks Blog - being run from my account - would get upgraded too. Ooops.

Now, you can see that nothing has visually changed here - but under the hood things are (apparently) very different. So, next time you log in to post or add comments, you may be asked to upgrade your Blogger account. That would be my fault. Sorry.

(On the plus side, those of us who are using the RSS feeds to monitor the starbucks blog may find the 'Comments' feed useful.)

Anyway. Merry Christmas y'all,

Oli.

Merry Christmas

Since none of us have posted here in ages, I thought I'd break the silence by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and all that.

Oh, and drink lots of coffee -- just so I can't be accused of posting off topic!

CostaClaire has requested instructions for posting to this blog over the holidays, so look out for some (no doubt) dodgy posts over the next few days.

All the best,

OliT.

Hang on! I'm over here!

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet... it's just police training college taking its toll on my social life.

I've been getting home at about 6pm, working on preparation for the next day (pre-reads, powerpoint presentations, learning diaries yada yada yada...), having tea and going to bed at 10pm! No time to send emails or post to blogs... Tell you what, it's not like that proper job I used to do where I got five hours of doss time every day. When I get bored of this silly police lark, I think I'll come back so that I can start being properly productive again.

Did manage to talk to Cardigan-wearer Thomas when I was on the train the other night. The moral of the story is that if you want to converse, between 5 and 6pm is the optimum time!

Anyway, on to more important issues. I've given up trying to spend my daily £10 allowance - I can't do it. Even with breakfast, mid-morning muffins, lunch and afternoon cake (all swilled round with lashings of hot caffeinated beverage) I can't quite make it to ten quid. So I've stopped trying.

But the lemon drizzle cake is just to die for (hmmm, did that sound a bit gay?). I might send you some in the post if you're lucky. Not sure what condition it'll be in when it arrives, but it's the thought that counts.

How goes it at the mausoleum?

P.I. Lacey

OK, Mr L ... it's been over a week now, and the only updates you've given us are about food, and the money you get to spend on it. Not that I personally have a problem with that topic, but we're all keen to hear more about your new career ;o)

I've made a good start...

So then...

Two days in, and I'm still alive. Public transport, rain and 6am starts are conspiring to make it less fun, but so far so good.

Most important news to report is that I get a £10 per day "refreshment" budget. And because I'm on a student campus, everything is very cheap, so it's tricky to actually spend a tenner.

Yesterday, I started off tentatively. I had an Americano at each of my three breaks (they're £1 each) and at lunch I had a BLT sandwich, a grape and melon fruit salad thingy and a bottle of water (to counteract the caffeine). All this came to a grand £6.30.

Today, I decided to try harder. During my first break I had a cappuccino, at lunch I went for a chicken salad baguette, fruit salad, banana, shortbread biscuits and a bottle of water, and in the afternoon had a cup of tea with a huge piece of lemon drizzle cake, which I ate all of. Oli would have been proud. Even so, despite my efforts, I still only spent £7.50.

I'm thinking that I may need to go for the bacon butty and a cuppa when I get there first thing tomorrow. I may yet get to spend the whole £10 if I really put my mind to it.

Oh, and the police training stuff is very useful. So far I've filled in about 47 forms for various things. And as we know, the ability to fill in forms is an essential police skill.

Office Fun

Claire carelessly dies whilst cataloguing the TV Gallery acrylic triangles. SPC, soon to be PC, Lacey takes control of the crime scene ... or something like that.

Tomorrow the team *might* actually do some work, but for now they seem happy. Best not to disturb them.

I feel cheated...

Following on from my last post, I have conducted some research into the "professional" way of making an Americano.

To start off, yesterday we went to Starbucks, where I ordered an Americano and watched to see how they made it. And do you know what? They completely cheated! They poured it out of the big metal coffee vat that lives at the back of the counter! Straight into the mug, and no espresso in sight. Surely that's a filter coffee and not an Americano? More importantly, it wasn't very nice. And they claim to put two shots of espresso in it? Do they hell...

However, today we went into Costa, and I ordered an Americano for comparison purposes. And I'm pleased to report that they do it properly in there. Two shots of espresso, into little shot glasses, which are then poured into the cup, and topped up with hot water. Perfect. And good flavour too.

Starbucks pikeys. Bah.

Black (coffee) art

So last week, I acquired a Krups XP4020 espresso machine to replace my recently deceased Morphy Richards. It's a bit of a highly-strung beast, but it makes great coffee (providing you treat it with due deference and make sure you do everything "just so").

But my question is this. Americano coffee - shot of coffee in first and then pour the hot water in, or the other way round? How do they do it at Starbucks? I've never watched them. We must keep an eye on their technique at lunchtime.

Haven't cracked how to froth the milk properly yet either.

But if you want a really awesome straight-up-no-messing-about espresso, I'm your man...

National Collection

An ancient relic of the early days of teleivion are found discarded on the 3rd-floor landing.