"Erected by Anne Pollard"

OK, this turned out to be a lot more phallic in the photo than it was in real life.

Anyway, I took the shot on the way back from breakfast with the Minx and Dom at Rosie Posie's in Chorley. I love hanging out with the pair of them and the way conversation moves between us, so that whilst sometimes it's the three of us all talking, other times two of us will be chatting while the third checks their phone, peers into the middle distance, takes a photo of their coffee, whatever. 

The most disappointing news I heard today (oh boy) was that Costa has been bought out by Coca-Cola. Don't get me wrong, I prefer an independent coffee shop to Costa where possible but there are a couple of issues with this. Firstly, Costa tends to keep more antisocial hours - which, admittedly, is crap for their staff - and secondly, in a strange town it provides some guarantee of quality. And, of course, it isn't Starbucks.

The problem is that as soon as any decent business gets to a certain size, it attracts people who are purely motivated by personal gain. You can see this history time and again in all these quirky little companies that succeeded and were bought out. There's the Body Shop and Innocent, of course, but it also applies to Google and, yes, Starbucks. Hell, you could even include the Catholic Church. 

Once bought out, the values remain only in the marketing material.

Which is why I really like those companies that reach a decent size but don't sell out and thus retain their core values. Look at Zen Internet: great little company and, if you have a problem, there's a phone number on their website and you're immediately speaking to someone who knows what they're talking about. It seems to me that GiffGaff are also in this category and also Ovo Energy. 

Capitalism: it's crap, isn't it? And yet people refuse to accept that the argument against it was conclusively ended in 2008, when the banks came cap in hand to the government, which bailed them out but, uselessly, didn't take the opportunity to impose better regulation. You'll never get rid of capitalism - it's hardwired into human nature - but you have to regulate it and that's what it will always need. 

Back to real life, then... I spent the evening with the kids, which was lovely, and four pack of Nanny State, which was all right. 

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Reading: 'Vinegar Girl' by Anne Tyler.