If We Were Having Coffee

So I saw an excellent blog post recently, and I feel like a terrible person because I can’t remember where and I wanted to link back to it so as not to just be an idea stealer. Although, I’m pretty sure they’d seen the idea someplace else anyhow so perhaps it’s ok, and it’s not like I’m taking credit for it anyway, just sort of saying ‘kudos, that’s awesome, I’m going to have a go at that….’

The feature was called If We Were Having Coffee and it’s pretty much just a chance for me to talk at you about things that are on my mind that may not always be book related because sometimes I like to try and shake things up a bit. Who knows, if I like it I might make it a semi regular thing. I say semi regular because hello look at my blog please, there’s nothing regular about it: I am shamefully sporadic at best.


Anyhow, I'm not in the office today (hurrah for having Friday off) so it seemed like as good a time as any see how it goes. Grab a coffee – tea, hot chocolate, whatever -  and a cake (MMMM cake) and let’s chat.



If we were having coffee I’d probably mention the mahoosive spot on my face that I know you’d have noticed but be too polite to mention because you’re a darling. I’d draw attention to it because I’m feeling self-conscious about it and that’s just the way I roll. I swear though, it’s massive. I asked one of the boys in my office if he could see it from his side of the room. He could. Probably you could see it from the moon. I’d blame my hormones and how shit is it please that I am almost 34 years old and I still have to suffer these breakouts every month. I’d probably also blame the fact that I’m using a Neutrogena cleanser instead of the one I’ve been using for a while because apparently my skin likes change about as much as I do which is not very (I use a Decleor micellar water thingy usually, if you’re interested, because the bottle is pretty and it smells nice.)

If we were having coffee I’d probably be ridiculously happy about the hopefully excellent latte I was drinking because coffee. I’d tell you how the Nescafe Azera I drink at home and the Gold Blend I drink at work just isn’t the same and that I actually take my own travel mug to the Costa machine when I’m walking to work most mornings because that third cup of coffee on the walk to work actually makes all the difference and (and it says Luke’s on it which means I get to pretend I live in Stars Hollow.) I’d ask you if you thought I had a problem. Although tea is not coffee, is it. & my first beverage of the day is usually tea, which is weird actually because I used to hate tea.  I’d ask you what you knew about coffee machines because I want one and I am currently torn between one that makes coffee like this one fromKitchenAid or one that will make me a latte like this Dolce Gusto pod one. I’m torn.

If we were having coffee we probably would end up talking about books because this is me after all. I’d tell you that I just re-read Handmaid’s for about the sixth time and still think Margaret Atwood is the Queen of Fucking Everything and that it’s actually eerie how relevant her work is and if you told me that actually you haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale I would demand you did so right away because it’s SO GOOD.
I’d tell you started the new Sarah Pinborough last night which I’m majorly excited about, partly because I loved The Death House and really liked Thirteen Minutes and partly because her publicity team have done excellent work on Twitter with #wtfThatEnding. I’d tell you that actually that’s why I’m so sleepy today, because I stopped up too late reading it.
I’d get you to fangirl with me about The Book of Dust – can you even believe we have an actual date - and remind me that actually Northern Lights hurts my soul every time and that maybe I should remember that before I pick the series up to reread. I’d point out that I probably won’t listen to your advice on that.
& of course I’d ask you what you’re reading right now. All the recs all the time please.



If we were having coffee I’d probably compliment your outfit because you look lovely today and I wouldn’t say it out loud but secretly I’d wish I had that kind of style. Pretty much everybody I spend time with ever makes me wish I had a personal stylist. Ha.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you about walking to work and about how my fitbit might be the best gift I’ve ever been given because I was so lazy. Not on purpose so much, but because I had a sedentary 9-5 job and so I’m sat all day and then I’d get home and grab some food and then just be so tired. My fitbit makes me challenge myself: I walk to work and back most days now; I go for a little walk at lunchtime; if I don’t have plans at weekend then I get off my arse and go for a walk and I feel better for it. & I get a bit of a kick actually, out of looking at my 7 day steps and watching that average creep up. I’m at 7k per day right now and it’s bugging me because two weeks ago I was at 11. I’d ask you if you had one. & I’d invite you to a workweek hustle if you did because we’re all in this together.

If we were having coffee I’d probably mention Donald Trump because it’s a thing that’s at the back of my mind all of the time – mine and most other sane people on the planet I guess. The guy is a horror show. I find myself laughing sometimes because seriously how is this shit even real and then I remember it is real and my laughter dies in my throat. I wouldn’t want to get overly political because I know not everybody likes that but as we sat drinking coffee and eating cake I probably wouldn’t be able to help but tell you he makes my skin crawl and that every time he opens his mouth he scares the bejeezus out of me and that with all his fake new BS his big ol’ Sweden blunder this weekend was a joke and that impeachment would not surprise me.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that my BFF has gotten Wimbledon tickets again this year and that the prospect of another minibreak to London with her, a couple of days of tennis and theatre and wine has me positively giddy because when I think about the best five days of my life two of them have been spent in London with her – the first when we went to Wimbledon the first time and drank Pimms even though she hates it and saw Roger Federer do this thing, and the second two years later, when it rained and we sat under an umbrella outside a pub and drank rain til the sun shone. It took a while. We were happily drunk.



If we were having coffee then I'd probably tell you about The Kitten Dilemma. The Kitten Dilemma is, perhaps not unsurprisingly, the dilemma I am having about kittens. Specifically about owning kittens and whether or not I should. I had a cat - my ex got custody when we split up 2 years ago and I am still terribly sad about it; I miss that little furry creature so hard. I also miss the company of a kittycat and I spend a lot of time thinking it might be nice to do something about that and get a couple of kittens - a couple because I'm at work all day and also two is better than one when it comes to these things, right? I only have to worry about myself now, just lil ol' me and the company would be nice and I'd love it, I would. I've even named them in my head. I think. 
But then on the other hand, it feels like a bigger decision to make somehow when I'm making it on my own and my life would be restricted a little more and what if I ended up living with somebody again and that person was not a cat lover and is it ridic to base this decision on a vague possible future scenario that may never come to pass and what is it that's stopping me really other than my inability to make a decision. So indecisive I swear.
It's a constant source of amusement to My Best Guy how I see things I want and don't get them and then regret not getting them for months only to finally decide to get them, usually by which point they've sold out, Unless I'm lucky, sometimes I'm lucky. But even then I get mocked for the fact that it took me a year to decide to buy the shoes/coat/whatever. That's what this is I think. But I'd ask you, if we were having coffee - to kitten, or not to kitten?

If we were having coffee I’d ask you about you because I want to know all the things, please. What’s been going on in your world – where have you been and what have you been doing and what have you read and watched and seen and what plans have you made? I would want to know it all.