Tag Archives: London

Mr G’s Cafe, Stepney

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I did it again. I visited another Cafe in the East End to try out the Eggbaconchipsandbeans meme. This time it was the magnificent Mr G’s on Mile End Road in that lovelies of all East End quarters, Stepney. Mr G’s has a bright orange, friendly sign over his door that invites his guests into the small but cosy cafe.

The gentleman behind the counter (Mr G. himself?) takes your order, passes it through the window to the smiling chef and before you can fully open The Guardian and try to find the magazine, you already have an enormous plate in front of you. And if I say enormous, I mean enormous.

This is not just a plate full of eggbaconchipsandbeans. This the mother of all plates of eggbaconchipsandbeans. The chips are well done and have a decent crunch and desperately try to cosy themselves up to the sea of beans, that is covering the most magnificent two slices of bacon I have ever had, both in size ans in taste. The whole ensemble looks more like a picture of Andy Warhol and I was almost tempted not to spoil its beauty and just worship it silently, but then the hunger took over and soon this wonderful meal was unfortunately history.

The condiments are well placed and the tables are so clean that you might think you’re seeing double:

While one is silently chewing, the sociable gentleman behind the counter entertains his regulars with surprisingly erudite banter and keeps the atmosphere relaxed and positive. You leave MR. G’s not only well fed, but indeed also spiritualized, marvelling how you functional yet inspiring the interior is. Le Corbusier would have liked it here.

It doesn’t get much better than Mr. G’s, you know.

MrG’s Cafe, 222 Mile End Road, London E1 4LJ

Blogging and Commuting

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I have now been a blogger for some time. In the past I managed about three to four posts per week, as my working hours were pretty much nine to five, with a commute home that would literally take 4 minutes to home. That would give me plenty of time to contemplate the pressing issues of the day. Or just a zip around teh intarwebs to find something blogworthy.

Since I have joined the ca 6 million daily commuters travelling into London every morning and leaving the moloch in the evening, blogging has become more difficult. This has two main reasons:

1: Time constraints. I now get up at 06:15 and return from work ca 19:30. This has reduced the time that was available for myself by 4 hours: two in the morning, two in the evening. As I have to stand in the train, blogging during the commute is not really feasible, and blogging on the bike is probably quite dangerous and certainly not legal. It would also be immensely antisocial and certainly not very nice if I would use the remaining hours prior to bedtime to blog my heart out and in turn ignore my wonderful partner,  who really deserves every minute of my waking hours.

2. Knackeredness.  After thirteen hours away from home, the sofa becomes a very tempting place to plant my bottom on. There is also The Guardian to read, Radio4 to listen to and the odd (but fortunately rare) TV-show to watch. And of course chat to my darling partner, so the Macbook and the various other digital household items have become much less a focus in my life.

I ask my regular readership: How do YOU battle post commuting fatigue and keep your shiny blog updated and your readership happy? Do you ignore your significant other? Blog at work? had a divorce?

Let me know. And the others.