retail in london

london 4.07pm sunny 22.2C thursday 2018

yesterday a friend who i have told about the circuit training in the gym in chelsea, did join the session yesterday. i am hoping he will continue it. after the session he wanted to go for a coffee and chat with me, so we went to one nearby.  he said he wanted to treat me. however, it was not a good cafe, in that my cappuccino was awful, ( it was very weak… i like weak coffee but only if i make it myself… if it is bought, £3 it costs, i want strong coffee… (it was my friend’s treat so i did not say anything, but i dont think his tea was good value for money either) . 

he asked for tea in a pot, and they gave him a lipton teabag in a small pot that only have enough water for 1 cup. the lipton teabag is the usual thing they give you when u ask for tea. it is a continental habit, and this shop in chelsea seem to be copying them. it  is why i dont order tea even when i am in london. you would think you could get real tea in london but it is not so. they all serve you with a lipton tea bag, and that is the weakest tea in the world. 

you can get real good coffee in london, but this shop make me realise only if u go to a chain coffee shop, like cafe nero, or costa, etc, not to this private coffee shop on the kings road in chelsea. the food they serve can’t be that nice either, because next to our table, someone have left a pizza, and cake uneaten. quite a lot of it was left. it amazes me why people leave it uneaten after ordering it. these foods are not cheap if u order them in a cafe like this. yet they did not finish it. anyway i resolve never to go there again. i should have taken him to the simit sarayi coffee place just a few doors further down. 

today i went to canary wharf…(it is in docklands) because i thought malaysian airlines was sponsoring a malaysian cuisine demonstration there. but there was no sign of them when i went there at about 1pm. then i thought maybe they are at canada water,one stop away… i always get these two tube stops confused. they dont sound the same but somehow in my mind i always get them mixed up. but there was no even a square of open space there.

there is one, a huge open space, but i only know how to find it if i come out of the DLR tube stop, whereas this one is a jubilee line tube stop. there was an underground shopping complex nearby and i took a wander round it. saw one making up salads for a long queue of hungry office workers on their lunch break. it was so popular that it has lots of empty bowls. you can get your salad made up on the spot. costs £6.60. they must be doing something right, because it was very popular. 

 

chelsea in bloom

london 3.24pm 12.7C cloudy wednesday 2016

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this is the flower show put up by the shops in chelsea,it is separate from the big one where u have to pay as much as £50 to get in. i find it more colorful than the other one, because it is arranged flowers. whilst the other one is landscape gardens and flowers growing naturally. i like seeing arranged flowers.  it is an art in itself. they call it chelsea in bloom and in there u can vote for the display that pleases u most. and they give all the displays with pictures too. dont quite know how they can make it democratic, as i did not see all the entries so if i vote for any one of them it wont be a fair judgement. and the parrot was not featured …nor the two fruits, which were in the M&S window (it won something, another award, according to  the sign on it).

What’s The Cereal Killer Café Actually Like? | Londonist

What’s The Cereal Killer Café Actually Like? | Londonist.

they received a lot of publicity when a channel 4 video went viral showing the owner abruptly stopping the interview when he was asked how can he justify charging £3.20 when there are so many poor people in the area.

it was a provocative question, and of course quite illogical, otherwise every shop will have to close if they can only price their goods to cater to the lowest earners.

the owner wasn’t trained in public relations, and why should he after all he is busy trying to set up a business , not answer provocative questions from tv interviewers.

from this article it seems to have been good publicity, because the public knows that shops are never catering to the poor.

it seems it is £2.50 for a small bowl, £3 for a medium bowl, and 20p extra if u ask for premium milk. from the picture the medium bowl looks quite large.

personally i think cereals are the devils food, so full of suger, but even i am tempted sometimes to eat them. and they are very expensive for what they are even if u buy the box from the supermarkets.

i eat porridge for breakfast and porridge is very cheap, which was pointed out by a lady who wrote a report on poverty, where she mentioned one of the causes of the poor being poor is because they do not know how to cook. she got a lot of criticism for it, but she is correct.of course. but nowadays we are so politically correct we cannot say such a common sense thing without someone scolding her for mentioning it.

i read somewhere someone saying one charity visited a poor family, with the children malnourished and found loads of pasta on the shelves given to the mother. when questioned the mother  said she had no idea they can be made into food, as she gets her spaghetti from cans.