Lisbon street scene

Cafe Lisbon in Surrey that is. Long way from home. But full of Portuguese guys every day. We are a diverse community. At this time of day they are all standing outside drinking Sagres and Super Bock but there is a good breakfast and lunchtime trade too.

We have a Brazilian cafe a few hundred yards down the road as well. Run by Sidonio whose wife has a hairdressers out the back. Personally I remain a fan of the Lionheart bookshop cafe, where I went twice today.

Everyone is talking about the cost of living crisis. Not much appetite for April Fools jokes when it’s so grim out there. Today saw the higher energy tariff and national insurance increases kick in, and the Daily Mirror ran a front page listing fourteen hits to the ordinary person’s purse no less (including a return to 20% VAT and a predicted inflation rate of 9%).

I was firing on no cylinders today. Less productive than a sleeping tortoise. Plus the town centre was full of oiks who have just started their Easter holidays. There were gangs of girls and gangs of boys and the rest of us were caught between their hysterical shrieks and gobby chat up lines. So I was glad to get back from the office and threw my energies into some creative vegan cooking. 

I feel disaffected tonight but we have old friends coming over for dinner tomorrow. Been ages since we entertained…