"In the current economic climate ..."

One favourite blip location is the branch of Berits & Brown at Eurocentral. When I go, it's almost deserted, very stylish, pleasant background jazz, great coffee. The coffee costs me a couple of pounds but I don't usually eat there because it's pricey. I'm sure it gets busy at lunch time, but the fact is that the economic crisis has stopped this new -ish development from filling its very smart rental office space and there's barely a soul around!

This morning, dull and dreich with a sniffle threatening, we went instead to an outwardly bleak 'garden centre' a couple of miles up the road from Eurocentral, at Newhouse. The population it serves is the Harthill, Chapelhall, Motherwell and Wishaw area.

The car park was packed. Inside, a huge number of tables were filled by ordinary folk, most of them women, who ... well, let's say they didn't look as though they had money to throw away. The cafe was doing a roaring trade in soup and crusty roll (£2.45) main meals between £4 and £6, coffee at £1.20 and so on. The whole place was lively with upbeat chatter and clinking plates and cups. Where was the economic crisis that kept the office space empty?

There must be a lesson here, but I don't know what it is. Maybe, if life is generally OK for you, cutting out an expensive coffee is a mere speck of dust; but if life is harsh and money is scarce, maybe you soup and a sandwich with a good cup of tea just to fend off the misery. Interesting.

And the lentil soup was lovely!