Posts by Paul Campbell
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Actually I had another Starbucks moment this morning (I'm stuck in Seattle 'till Wednesday) - went to the local strip mall (I'm staying in stripmall hell) and ordered a "double non fat latte" remembering to add the "grande" to say how big it was. In most US cafes lattes come in a large glass (about the size of a bowl in NZ but easier to deal with without sloping it in your pants) - there's only one size - 'double' means more shots - I want to taste the coffee - turns out in SB "double" means exactly 2 shots which is what they put in a "grande" anyway.
See what I mean about SB changing the language of coffee
I've learned in NZ to say "an extra shot" rather than "double" because I think the SB-style shot counting seems to apply in NZ too.
As I said cafe culture is dialect - different all over there's no one true way to order it
Talking about the small stovetop espresso pots, I've had a camping one for years, makes one cup and can be run on a burner or dropped on the edge of a fire - you have to have your mug just so to catch the goodness when it goes off - perfect for that 6am wakeup in the desert (or to help with that burningman hangover) -
I also spent my time listening to my father hand grinding coffee beans - he'd picked up the habit making it in a billy in the North African desert in WW2 - and still made it the same way - boiled some water on a pot on the stove, threw in a handfull of ground coffee and then some salt to settle the grounds.
He was probably the only person I knew at the time (in the 60s) who drunk non-instant coffee and I never picked up a liking for the black strong (and a bit salty) brew he made - until much much later (sans salt of course)
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sorry to come in late - but I'm on a biz trip/different timezone and stuck in an american suburbia where Starbucks is sadly the best thing available - this is probably the only time I will patronise them.
I lived in the US during the rise of Starbucks, I watched their very preditory practices as they bought the leases out from under local cafes or opened directly next to them to drive them out of business - that's why I normally avoid them.
My other main beef with Starbucks is their attempt to change the language of the coffee culture - notice you can't buy a 'small' coffee there - they've chosen their own names and trademarked them and in the process tried to own the language of coffee in the US - I've had experiences at airport Starbucks where I've ordered a "double non-fat latte" something any cafe in the US would do instantly and eventually gotten to the point of being told "I'm sorry sir we're not allowed to say that you have to order with one of our names" - there's now a group of people that can only order in Starbucks with their trademarked names
The language of coffee is different in different places - I had to learn NZ's moving back from the US to NZ and honestly still don't really understand what things like a "flat white" really mean - and find real confusion about whether a 'double' means twice as much or an extra shot - like other language dialects there's no correct language - just difference which is good.
I am however waiting for someone in Trade and Industry to take down Starbucks for selling "Venti"(tm)s - Venti is of course Italian for twenty (we all know you can't trade mark a number but they managed to pull it off anyway) - anyway, its the Italian for twenty what? in Italy it would be litres or millilitres - but no - it's Venti because they are selling you 20 fluid ozs of coffee (worse than that they are 20 american fluid ozs which are not the same as NZ ones) - so anyway Starbucks are advertising stuff in non-metric units should there be someone down there with a big stick rapping knuckles ....
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Andrew your comment about the colours after cataract surgery reminds me of my mother-in-law an artist who painted brightly colored paintings - after her surgery she was horrified ....
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actually I think it will be January, and a bit like "The Crying Game" ....
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"When questioned later Mr Key pointed out that his party had always supported cuts in government, and that Bill would be next ...."
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I think "to infinity and beyond" is probably a little premature, he does say no one has been up more than 2 metres yet (probably need a private pilot's license for more)
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I remember when Obama was elected to the Senate - he was lauded as the most liberal of politicians at the time (at least by US standards) - I see his fast pedaling to the right as normal in the US context where you need to hold the center, whereever it is, to win
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you have a tag to fix there ....
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If it were a national daily paper it would have to be available, well, nationally - here in Dunedin I can buy the ODT and often see the Chch Press and the Southland Times in the supermarket - I think the only place I've ever noticed the Herald was at the airport.
Pre-internet every time I visited Boston I used to pop out to that big newagents in Cambridge to buy a week old Herald just because it was the only NZ paper I could ever find - which shows how isolating doing your OE in the US used to be