Pay For Your Time, Not Your Coffee

Take your pick!

A recent contribution I made to my company's blog about a concept café that has just opened in London... 

In London’s alternative centre, Shoreditch, a new café has just arrived with a new concept in tow. Your coffee and cakes are free, but you must pay 3p for every 60 seconds you spend there.

Ziferblat is a new café to hit the streets of London and has already been praised by Time Out as one of the best cafes to open in 2014. The popular chain hails from Russia where they have opened more than 10 branches in the last 2 years to an incredibly positive response. The café’s name, ‘Zierblat’ means ‘clock face’ in Russian (Zifferblatt in German) and the idea is simple; pick up an alarm clock on your way in and clock out as you leave.

The owner, Ivan Mitin hopes to make a community from the café, with customers having access to the kitchen to prepare their own food and helping themselves to the professional coffee machine as well as a plethora of snacks. The café even provides its coffee-drinkers with a piano, where visitors are encouraged to show off their musical skills. The communal feeling seems to be a success too, with customers lining up to do their washing up and even that of others despite no obligation to do so.

Ziferblat has sparked criticism from some consumers who don’t favour the idea of being guarded by a watchful timer sat on the table in front of them. Although perhaps making your own coffee is a slight disadvantage of the coffee shop, for £1.80 an hour it is arguably fantastic value.

For those who feel guilty about buying just one coffee and nursing it for two hours while they get on with their work, Ziferblat might be the perfect café to be your new local.

☞Ziferblat Facebook

☞Ziferblat Twitter

☞Ziferblat Website

Find the original article on Com by AVM's website here.

The Challenges Of Moving Abroad

My recent big move has been a fairly smooth ride as far as these things go, but it hasn’t always been completely bump free. A voyage across the seas for an extended period of time can be an incredibly worthwhile thing to do; independence, initiative and interest can all be acquired while you’re away. However, it isn’t always plain sailing (perhaps you learn how to make travel related puns as well), here are a few reasons why...

Image: cartoonaday

New People. Meeting people is often one of the hardest parts of moving away. Meeting fun, nice and normal people is often even harder. However, don’t forget that while you’re abroad, you have the perfect opportunity to meet a huge variety of people. Why not approach a randomer on the street and ask them to show you around? If they think you’re weird, just tell them it’s what all English people do.  

New Habits. Getting used to a new routine can be a very confusing thing, but it’s very important to embrace the culture of the place where you are living. Waiting until 9pm to eat dinner, as the French do, was practically impossible to get used to, but now I prefer it. Clubs not even opening until 2am was even stranger but I finally felt like I fit into French culture when I discovered that I can start work as late as 9.30am.

New Living Arrangements. Moving into a flat with strangers and a kettle-less kitchen can be a daunting thing. Discovering how to make the washing machine work provided a particularly deceptive challenge (the washing powder and the freshener look identical!), but making mistakes and learning how to not burn yourself when lighting the oven is all part of the ‘broadening your horizons’ experience.  

Had to invest!

New Language. Without a doubt the most nerve-wracking, nail-biting pre-year abroad jitters for me came from my fear of not being able to understand those around me. Of course it was a struggle at first, and I still occasionally nod my head when someone looks at me expectantly without a clue what I’m agreeing to, but over time it occurs less and less and you begin to understand more and more. 

Ordering Tea in France

As much as I love learning about new cultures and languages, and I really do, I’ve started to notice that there are some Englishisms that I can’t quite drop. I’ll happily adopt the daily visits to the Boulangerie for a baguette, I’ll even speed up when the traffic lights go orange rather than slow down, but when it comes to tea, I remain a patriot. However, sticking to my tea-drinking habits is not as easy in France as you might expect. Here are a few reasons why…

They hate milk. French people hate milk. It might be a teeny generalisation, but UHT milk is pretty much all you can get in their supermarkets. Something doesn’t seem right for me when the milk is kept in the larder and not in the fridge and it doesn’t go off for months… it’s unnerving.

They give me funny looks when I ask for milk. Many a waitress or colleague have raised their eyebrows upon my request for milk with my tea. ‘I’ve never heard of that before’ responded one waitress earlier this week, ‘I’ll ask the chef’. Even if they do finally understand the concept of milky tea, it is often brought to the table hot and foamy. That’s for coffee, duh.

They like funny flavours. The most common appears to be Darjeeling, but Earl Grey is a popular choice as well. If I’m going to forgo French culture, I’m going to do it right. English Breakfast only please.

They prefer coffee anyway. I think my strive for a tea taste of home is fairly fruitless, with various occasions of being brought a tea bag with a cup of milk (no water), hot milk on its own (with no tea)and often a cup so full there is no space for milk in it, perhaps it is time to age a few years and start drinking Espresso. I’m all for embracing the culture, but I might just keep a stash of Tetley’s in the back of the cupboard for the next time something exciting happens in the royal family and I feel nostalgic for home.

The Places of Bristol: Boston Tea Party, Park Street

Image: Trip Advisor

Although this may not seem like an original choice, the reason I have chosen this dainty little coffee shop is for its garden. Already loved for its ethically-sourced products and family owned atmosphere, the Park Street branch of BTP was in fact its flagship location set up in 1995. The café boasts a large collection of teas and if you’re lucky, the baristas even put a nice leaf pattern on your coffee. 

The secret of this place, however, is only to be found when heading towards the toilets in a ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ style-moment. Heading through the tattered door, you come out the other side to a beautiful tiered garden. With lovely rock tables and heaters for cold mornings, the garden really does charm its customers. 

This picture doesn't do it justice!

So next time you fancy some Red Berry and Hibiscus Tea or a Get your goat, you’ve pulled! toasted sandwich, why not head to Boston Tea Party on Park Street? Find the old door that takes you through to your own peaceful garden, stealing you away from the hustle and bustle of city life just for a little while.

The Places of Bristol

 I have recently taken over as Theatre Editor for Bristol’s online magazine, Inter:Mission and with my new role comes new experiences (and the odd free press ticket). I’ve only been in the position for two weeks, but I’ve already been to an array of new places across the city. There are so many little theatres, bars and quirky activities that students don’t seem to take advantage of. I have discovered that Bristol is so more than just Whiteladies Road and Lounge, and as embarrassed as I am that it took me almost two years to realise it, I hope to persuade you too.

In this new feature for my blog, I hope to point you in the direction of new and fun places to go outside of the student routine. If you feel like you seem to be visiting the same places over and over again and actually quite fancy a good cocktail bar rather than Bed @ Bunker or a quirky cinema rather than the Odeon, then you’ve come to the right place. 

oldukphotos

How to Avoid Wasting Time at University

Drinking too much coffee can cause a latte problems...

So we all have been partial to the occasional iPlayer/4oD moment when there is nothing you want to do more than catch up on some TV show that you don’t really care about. But for me, I always feel a bit guilty afterwards, like there must be some other activity I could be doing that would be less, well, lazy. I have come up with some examples of ways to waste time without necessarily feeling like you’re wasting time...

People Watching. Why not head over to the nearest *insert coffee shop name here*, find the perfect window seat and have a good stare? You’ll feel more proactive potato than couch potato as I’m pretty sure Costa/Caffe Nero/Prêt A Manger will make you change out of your pyjamas. Take a pretentious book to pretend to read and enjoy the staring as people go by completely clueless of your antics. If you’re feeling particularly bored, why not head over in the early morning and catch a glimpse of last night’s gossip walking home?

Social Media. Okay, so I know that spending a few hours on Facebook is a classic procrastination technique, but why not mix it up with a bit of Twitter/Google+/LinkedIn/Blogging and you’ll feel like you’ve spent the entire morning devouring all the web has to offer. Also, by putting LinkedIn in the mix, you are totally enhancing your career prospects, obviously.

Timetabling. Feel like you just don’t have the time to do all that you need to do? Print off 5 copies of your timetable and fill in when you are going to do which bit of work depending on which nights you go out. Let’s say you’re planning a mon/weds/fri (Bristol lot: Bunker, Dorma, Lounge?) why not create a timetable for working that doesn’t involve the mornings afterwards. That way you’ll be so totally organised when it comes to the timetabled hangover and already have found a time to do your stupid essay. Definitely not a waste of time. 

New Experiences. Write a check list of random things you want to do before you leave university and put it up on your wall (length of list depends on amount of time wanted to be wasted writing said list). Examples include: attend a free session at pole dancing society, go a week without spending any money or persuade the Sri Lankan society that you’re from Sri Lanka.