If you're going to be irritated by something, you might as well profit from it...

This afternoon, I decided to pop down to the Starbucks on the ground floor of my otherwise unappealing office skyscraper, to buy a skinny vanilla latte with sugar-free syrup (as I'm sure you all do). It isn't something that I do every day, but often enough that the staff recognise me.

Today, however, I found myself behind a couple of young, smartly dressed employees of Deloittes, that ubiquious accounting firm, with a whole page of drink and snack orders. It was clear that they had the full attention of the staff, and that nobody else was going to be served until they were done. Given that the whole purpose of the exercise was to grab a quick coffee, I allowed my irritation at their thoughtlessness to convince me that I wasn't willing to wait, and returned to my desk, uncaffinated.

Except that I could, if I wasn't so lazy, make my own coffee. I have a cafetiere, some quite good filter coffee and some sweeteners (I take my coffee black). Not only would I save myself something like £2.50 a time, I'd drink the blend of my choice, and I wouldn't have to go as far to get it.

And so, at least for a while, goodbye Starbucks. Perhaps once the irritation subsides, I might return, but until then, the money saved can furnish my bank account...