One of my pleasures is to take my time in enjoying a well crafted coffee, espresso or filter in a cafe with a lovely vibe. Due to my passion for coffee, it’s often but not exclusively at a speciality coffee establishment.

In Reading, that happens to be the St Mary’s Butts Coffee Under Pressure venue, alongside the St Mary’s church. With equal outside and inside seating, it accommodates all manner of clientele. Sometimes writing. Sometimes chatting with a fellow customer or just sitting back and focusing on the coffee itself. Coupled with lovely hospitality, from the baristas, to complete the whole experience.

Visiting cafes often reveals 2 sides of life. Those who look to engage and in some cases, watch the interaction that happens in these establishments. My experience in the places I visit in my home town but also on my travels the passionate people I meet and talk to creates a wonderful frisson. I admit I’m a coffee ‘snob’, so these cafes will use smaller and mid size roaster for their caffeinated refreshments. As a result, often the fellow customers are equally passionate about the coffee, and food that they eat. It will often act as a catalyst for conversation. When I drink coffee at home and out on my travels, at want it to stimulate my senses in taste, sounds and the visual context too.

It has meant that on my travels to places like Brighton, Oxford and Bath – to name a few, the experiences have been very memorable. Even a year or 2 later. The decor and ambiance reinforce these interactions and just add to the whole immersive feeling. I’ve added a few pictures to inspire you when you next visit these cities and towns. The interest and fun in searching for and exploring these cities can be segmented with places to cement the city’s personality.

If you can combine these with great conversation on a wealth of wide ranging topics, why not? Allowing ourselves to interact with people who want to share their stories, knowledge and ideas makes it a very easy way to share such interest with like minded individuals.

My last picture is published with regret at the closure of this distinctive establishment. I do hope the proprietors can find another suitable venue to rekindle their wares and hospitality to the people of Reading in the near future.

Another perspective beckons. So many choices. Sometimes we can be spoilt and don’t realise how fortunate we are. Can you have too much of a good thing? The wise can chose to ignore those rich temptations; knowing the dust will settle, allowing clarity to reveal what we are looking for.

We’ve been spoilt in the UK, which can only be described as artificially warm weather in the last few months. Therefore the last few days have been a brutal wake up call. An Arctic feeling wind as a result of Storm Arwen. Time to call upon the warmer layers to fend of the worst nature can throw at us. The analogy – it’s not bad weather, just the wrong clothing. Just dig out your winter togs and take it all on in your stride, your be glad you did.

Today, Sunday is a Winter’s day at its finest. Bright, Chrystal clear day to reveal views and much more.

Under a recommendation from my sister, I’m taking another approach with a life coach. A few probing questions about my life and my current circumstances. Also considerations about which path could be the key to unlock a wealth of potential in me. There’s likely to be a few ‘bumps’ along the way on what could be an interesting journey. Time will tell…..

A new beginning, can be intimidating, yet refreshing at the same time. The only limitation is your own habit on how things occur. That can be your approach to your mental outlook or as I want to show, where you can walk or cycle to discover the beauty of the United Kingdom.

Ah!  The delights of the fickle UK weather.  What can I say?  Our outlook can prove to be extremely insular when it comes to how we view our feelings about a current climatic occurance.  For what might be a downer at that moment, we can look upon it as a counterpoint to our expectations. Feelings pass, our experiences last.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton