Hogarth's depiction of Tom King's Coffee House.
There is a difficulty about having a gap in your day between work and Mass in Holy Week. As I'm in my post pub years, it means I go all 18th century. I take myself off to a coffee house, plonk myself down with a couple of large flat White's and work my way through the Daily Universal Register, the Manchester Guardian and the North British Gazette. (The Times, Guardian and Scotsman for the incorrigible modernist)
There is only so much caffeine a body can absorb, so a tea referred to as a "mint humbug" finished the session off. The only thing missing other than my periwig, tricorne hat and snuff box (nasty stuff - makes a horrid mess of your hanky!) was some chops! The Costa brothers appear to have overlooked this splendid Georgian option in their coffee house bill of fare. Shame really - I greatly enjoyed discovering the details of Georgian literary life & culture when studying the works of Jonathan Swift in 6th year Studies English.
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