At the coffee shop

 The other Saturday we decided to go up to one of our favourite coffee places in Bordeaux. They occasionally have made the unique croissant au chocolat - a croissant with cocoa powder in the pastry! Really good. I used to ask for it every time I went there, but they seldom made them.

They combine being pastry chefs, selling to businesses in the area, coffee-roasters, selling to coffee shops around, and running the café. But running the café comes third in their plan. Sometimes it's been closed. Sometimes it only does espresso. At the moment they do most things but only for a few days a week, and with few tables. So it was that Saturday all the seats were taken. We caught the bus home.

Yesterday we decided to go to our nearest chain coffee shop, Columbus coffee. It's not wonderful, but we feel it's a step up from Starbucks, and it's nearby and well placed for people watching.

We chose hot chanlate. You can get big, enormous or colossal.

They offered a muffin, baked on the premises, for a few coppers more. 

I considered the muffins in their display stand.

"If you take a nougatine and hazelnut muffin you have the chance to win a month of muffins".

They showed me that the underside of the muffin cases had a sticker to peel off to see if you've won a month of muffins.

"A month of muffins?"

"Yes - a muffin every day for a month."

I laughed. They laughed. We all laughed.

"I think a month of muffins might be a little too much..."

I had a white chocolate and raspberry muffin. One. 

And an enormous glass of hot chocolate.