The Staines Duo! (Blog 263)

Today, me and my friend went on a mini Staines outing, for the first time in ages! (I was going to post this blog tomorrow, as the drinks anecdotes are even more silly and repetitive than usual and need more thought. Then I thought screw it, I’ll post it now, so be warned). First up, we went to a new coffee shop. He said it was really good in a prior email, so I was expecting big things. In reality, we’re growing older and the words ‘really good’ could mean anything. For example the news can be ‘really good’ in that it’s well researched and presented, but is it something to look forward to? Not so much. On the plus side, I thought the produce was better than watching the news. Woohoo. Is this what my life has become? Are really good things slightly better than mundane now? Ok, the place wasn’t REALLY that bad, I guess I was just a little disappointed. When someone says there’s a mega new drinks place, it’s easy to get unrealistic expectations.

In all seriousness, what was good about the hot chocolate and cream there, (here we go :S) was the way the latter ingredient never really left the former, so you don’t get too much or not enough of the thick milk when you go in for a sip. Starbucks take notes. HOWEVER, the cream in the new place wasn’t as tasty as the well known franchise! Arrrghhhh! Clearly hot chocolate and cream preparation is an extremely deep subject, but if the two places swap ideas, they both can benefit and make a SUPER drink. (Much like the super grapes I mentioned a while back). However, I’m not the kind of person who can bring people together, so will we ever see the perfect HCaC? Who knows. The world really does need a charismatic genius with vision. Again, sadly I’m not that person. Some will say ‘who cares’, but such people are dead inside. Avoid them.

In the same place, I also enjoyed a Bakewell tart that WAS baked well (or maybe it wasn’t baked at all, I really don’t know, it might just be a strange, misleading name. Like Starburst). It was prepared well at least, and it had an extra bit of chocolate sprinkled on top of it. I couldn’t taste it as there wasn’t enough of it, but it was a nice thought. It looked pretty, and I partly purchased it for that reason. Was the designer kind hearted and dedicated to art or just manipulative and all about the profits and sucking people in? Sadly, I never asked the staff, so I may never know. Unless I send them an email, but it could be called harassment if not worded very carefully, so I’ll leave it.

Then me and my chum went to HMV. Interestingly the shop does their own HMV chocolate and it sells Japanese sweets. The music and sweets shop. Why? Do people feel hungry when shopping for music? Well I did, but only because I saw the foods right in my face and couldn’t ignore them. The shop tricked me, basically. Just like the tarts. And that’s not me being paranoid, you can find in depth videos on Youtube, describing all of McDonald’s secret marketing tactics, for example. Of course it would be slander to call them money grabbing thieves, but is it slander to call them deceptive money grabbers? If it is, I won’t call them that either. The fact I knew I was being taken advantage of and didn’t do anything about it, was particularly humiliating for me.

What were the music-foods like? Well the chocolate was alright, but I’m not sure if HMV’s time was worth it. In comparison, I spend a lot of my time writing for this website. If I decided to start up my own creamy chocolate franchise, wouldn’t that make my schedule needlessly complicated? HMV’s choice, I suppose. If you’re curious, turns out Japanese sweets taste exactly the same as English ones, but they’re about eight times more expensive. It’s a bit worrying when I say the Subway I later got was the only nutrition I got in the whole trip out, as they’re not exactly healthy. In fact they’re super salty and fatty, but at least you do get protein and fibre with them, and vitamins from the vegetables. But obviously, if you only eat them, you’re at risk of obesity, and maybe even scurvy. To end things on a high, I got some food on my trousers, but the stain is barely noticeable as the clothes are black. I told you black trousers are good. Bye!