Pavement Cafe Culture
Just before I start - and I am probably being incredibly thick but how do you put an accent on a letter - i.e. the word cafe in the title of this blog. I've often wondered. One of the things that I remember most about Tony Blair's Governement wasn't one of the biggies like war on terror or Iraq. No, it was his confident vision of Britain developing a Pavement Cafe Culture such as you see all the time in cities in Europe, particularly in Southern Europe. The vision I must admit when I was on holiday in Menorca a few years ago, I was struck by how lovely it was in the capital, Ciutadella. Clean, pleasant streets, even in the early evening - no litter, no chewing gum, and happy smiley people in the streets. Parents with their kiddies in the park, at 7pm, and the sun beaming down. Not a down and out sipping a can of White Ice in sight. Of course, the main drawback to this cultural ideal here, (putting aside general British yobbery and littering) is the weather....