THIS COULD WELL BE OUR NEW COFFEE SHOP!

We decided that because we are going out to share Christmas Lunch with friends, and again on my birthday on Boxing Day, and as we are quite up-to-date with shopping etc, we decided to go up into Old Town to have a coffee.

However, when we arrived at Jack’s - and it was only just after 9 o’clock - we were asked if we had booked - we must have looked rather surprised, because the waitress then said, “Sorry, we are completely booked and there aren’t any tables available.”  We were quite taken aback, because the place was virtually empty, so if she had told us we could only have a table until 10 o’clock, we would have accepted that.

We decided to pop in to our favourite charity shop, DEBRA, just along the road, and were pleased to see Sarah, the Manager and have a chat with her.  The little coffee shop over the road isn’t open yet, so we had a little wander and went in to see our friends at Leightons, our favourite opticians.  

Kate, the Manager recommended “The Light Bulb” in Devizes Road, which was a coffee shop during the day and a lounge bar in the evening.  She said the coffee was excellent and the beans were ground on the premises - she was right on both counts - the smell coming from the coffee shop was great on a chilly and misty morning.  We were enthusiastically welcomed by Ryden, the barista, who was happy for me to take his photograph - and you can see the owner in the background, grinding his beans!  We will certainly be going back and I think Mr. HCB had his eye on one of their humungous sausage rolls, made we were told by a Romanian lady along with all the other pastries.

We chatted with several people in there and then popped into the local Co-op for a couple of things. On our way back to the car we saw a very old friend - we go back many years and she told us she was 90 and still driving!  Hope I look as good as her when I get to be 90!

Hope you all enjoy Christmas Eve and have a wonderful Christmas.  Love from the HCBs xxx