Upstairs at Woodruffs cafe

A group of women had gathered to celebrate a birthday. Some of them had very loud voices.
The conversation moved from the health benefits of drinking Aloe Vera to the difficulty of parallel parking. Then the Angels entered the conversation: that is, the helpful angels who intervene by speaking out loud in order to prevent a dreadful accident taking place. From there it was a short hop to The Woman who Understands Animals. This is more of a curse than a blessing, it seems, as when she is on the road and passes a truck filled with animals being sent to slaughter, they all cry out at once "Save me! Save me!"

With this horrid thought bleating in my brain, I left the Stroudie cafe. Too many questions....

Woodruffs Cafe was opened in 1998, by my former landlady Helen Wace. At the time, it was Britain's first organic cafe. It is still a reliable place to have lunch, or to earwig on fascinating conversations. The name Woodruffs comes from a terrier owned by Helen's then-husband, James. Helen sold the cafe to one of her co-workers, Hollie, in the early noughties and moved to London. The cafe is still owned and run by Hollie.