Latest moan from you and me 2026

I must confess to enjoying having coffee ( and cake) out, and am fortunate enough to be able to afford it. I have wondered if I actually have a caffeine addiction. At home, we drink decaffeinated tea and coffee, the coffee is ground and made in a cafetière, and is very good. However, I’ll never say no to a trip to our local seaside town, where we can indulge in excellent espresso style coffee in two different establishments. The Cornish Bakery, despite being a chain, does consistently excellent coffee, and Mocha, which I know some of you have visited, use Hawkins brand coffee which is roasted locally in Budleigh Salterton.
Despite the cost, I’m sure it still works out as cheaper than going to a pub. I can pour my own wine at home, but despite having experimented with home coffee makers in the past, I’ve never managed to create a barista style coffee at home. Nor has Starbucks, so I wouldn’t waste any money with them!

 

Why all the posh names for coffee, to me coffee is coffee

 

Sadly it is not. To bitter, to mild, to strong etc etc etc. Find the one you like and stick to it.

 

You have something there, I sit at home drinking beer but it never tastes as good as a pint in a pub, even if I buy the same brand.
Coffee is similar, it always tastes different to what you make at home, not that I have any fancy coffee maker as such.

I never opt for tea when out because for some reason other peoples tea never tastes as good as my own.

 

I'm not suggesting that live performance isn't worth anything, but there were at least a couple of hundred people watching the performance. If each only gave £1, it's not a bad return for less than an hour's work.

 

On the subject of coffee. Why will people pay a fortune for coffee made from beans which have passed through the digestive tract of a civet cat!?

 

Its because of the flavour.

 

I seem to have an unsolvable problem.

So, long story as short as possible. New flooring. Keen not to scratch it. Got brass castor cups for sofas, but no good. Pop off if sofa moves a cm. Need to be able to move sofas easily. Currently can't. Spent hrs online looking for new bun feet. Very hard to find without metal glides on base. Have bought and returned two sets that looked fine in listings, but turned out not to be.

Finally found option with no metal glides. Hooray! But in unfinished pine. Look up how to wood stain or varnish pine. OMG! Needs pre-treatment, sanding with 3 different grades, a special cloth, special brush, wax or varnish that costs £20+ per tin, etc. Wot a palaver!

Surely replacing sofa feet should not be this frustrating? Any tips to save my sanity gratefully received.

 

I’m not sure if this would work in your case but we have had these pads on the bottoms of our chair and table legs for years. You cut them to size and peel off a backing paper to reveal a sticky surface that goes onto the base of the chair or table legs. They do sometimes slide off after a year or two but you just cut another piece and stick it back on. These are from B&Q.

 

Maybe buy a couple of suitably sized rugs to sit the sofas on, @ViewAhead? Not the effect you were after, Im sure, but if it’s a wooden floor, you might be able to slide the sofa on the rugs?

 

Squirrel is beheading all my tulips

 

I've got those pads on the bottom of the brass caster cups, @Tidemark, but the sofas are on wheels inside the cups, and if I push the sofa, the wheels move and the cups stay still, hence the popping out. The wheels are not very old, but did scratch my other floor. I have now sent off for some PTFE glides to put on my new bun feet should I ever find any!

@Ergates, it may come to rugs, though then that involves at least sporadic vacuuming, which my back is not keen on.

@Friendly, annoying wotsits! They are beheading next door's camellias regularly and scattering the blooms all over the place. I think they like sucking the juice out of the stem.

 

I will suckle the juice out of them if I catch them, pesky little devils!

 

I'd take the wheels off and stick the felt pads on the stumps and recycle the castor cups.

 

I find lobbing a piece of gravel in their general direction can disrupt their vandalism, and if I can get it to hit the fence with a satisfying ping, that is even more effective.