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Jigjag, I almost overlooked you - something Cassie would never do, I'm sure. Yes, these drinks/fancy coffees seem to be very popular, goodness knows why. I'd be quite happy to have an ordinary coffee and a piece of millionaire's shortbread or even a chunk of panettone - what I don't want is a drink that claims to blend the two. I now travel everywhere with a Kit Kat in my pocket in case I'm in dire need of sustenance.

I'm getting more and more irritated by sports commentators' cliche of "100 per cent" when they just mean "completely"..

And don't get me started on "you can't underestimate...."

Chrise

Yes, even the simplest question gets a reply of "100%" or the idiotic "110%". I am waiting for somebody to say 93.5% or similar.

Malone

I dont think the cafe serves millionaire's shortbread, or anything else for millionaires, but the prices are low and that often attracts rich people, I understand.

I am going to start Christmas shopping tomorrow and will probably visit the cafe. As I am on a diet, I might have soup or coffee, or both.

jigjag

I would just have the soup, I dont like the way they make coffee. Should be straightforward?

Grunger

Interesting that your favourite word was in the Times today:

After start of fire close damaged platform (6)

Jigjag, I hope you enjoyed your Christmas shopping. Did you opt for soup or coffee or both? I feel you might have needed proper sustenance!

I enjoyed some bits of Matthew Parris's column in today's Times. He's discussing the theory that as we grow older, we lose our sense of proportion. He says 'We get crosser and crosser about smaller things. We obsess about apostrophes and punctuation...' I think we pedants carry a very heavy burden - we got 'crosser and crosser...' long before old age came along!

Grunger, I remember being exhausted after we'd sorted all the fo'c'sle and focsle and bosun and bo'sun and boatswain stuff.

I meant to post that your "two soups" post earlier reminded me of a couple of nights we spent in Avoca (near Dublin), which we discovered, after we arrived, was the basis for "Ballykissangel" (which didn't mean much, as neither of us had ever seen it).
Anyway, two rivers meet in the village, one very muddy, the other clear. The muddiness and clearness remained separated for at least* half a mile downstream of the confluence.

*we didn't follow it any further

Malone, Grunger

Thank you for your advice. I wasn’t sure what to have at the market café today, so for once, I looked at the blackboard and an item caught my eye:

Soup of the Day’s £2

I decided, with trepidation, to teach Cassie some grammar.

“I am afraid you have a superfluous apostrophe” I told her. “The other day you referred to your two soups as Soup of the Days, which of course has no apostrophe, but it should be Soups of the Day anyway.”

“As usual you are wrong” she rebuked me. “On Wednesdays we only have one soup, which is vegetable, and the description is quite correct. It is saying that Soup of the Day is £2. The apostrophe is replacing a missing letter.”

I was taken aback, but I had to admit she was right. Of course, I had to order the soup, which was substantial and tasty.

Chrise

That is amazing - how does it happen?