TEMPORARY MEASURE

Whenever we visit Keswick which, in recent times, has been about twice a year, we really don't feel as if it's been a "proper" visit unless we call in at "Temporary Measure" which is a little tea room slash coffee shop slash art gallery slash wool shop that we first popped into about half a dozen years ago now and found to be very much to our liking.

I don't know why it appealed, to be honest with you, because the "coffee shop" part doesn't seem to be the main part of its raison d'être, if you get my drift, but they do a rather spiffing range of cakes and biscuits and serve a decent cup of joe and/or hot chocolate in a relatively pleasant environment without giving you the impression that they're trying to hurry you on out of the place, and, I suppose, that's all we really want from a place of refreshment.

You may want more than this, of course, when you take your seat and require some refreshment, and I'm sure such an outlet is not to everyone's taste, but it suits us just fine.

Inside, amidst the old chairs and retro bric-a-brac, the walls are covered with pictures - photographs printed onto canvas with pithy, witty or downright profound text added to them, some of which are photographs of  places that I've been to myself, which always adds a pleasantly nostalgic air to our visits.

It matters little to me that our visits usually put me into lowest chair in the world, and that one day I shall probably sit down there and be unable to get up again, although sometimes, if it's available, I might find myself sitting on the the hugest, softest leather sofa in the kingdom, which adds another extra dimension because there are usually close to hand a selection of the kind of "coffee table" books of photographs that will draw men in and later find me dashing to Amazon to order my own copy at the earliest opportunity…

Quite often, it is the music of "Sycamore Sykes" which provides the soundtrack to these visits, a local musician who appears to have become the kind of unofficial "house (one man?) band" to the place and which gives an unobtrusively moody and poignant accompaniment to your cappuccino without becoming overtly obvious and "musak-y" like some other establishments I could mention.

The other main advantage to this watering hole of choice is that they sell a great deal of wool, as well as the patterns with which to render exciting things from it, which always makes it a popular choice of destination for the Beloved as it gives her the opportunity to restock the fundamental equipment needed in order to continue with one of her hobbies of choice.

We even like the name, too, given that it serves to remind us that the temporary measures of life can tend to end up being what we actually do, and that, as someone far more profound than I am once said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans…"

Anyway, I'm not wanting to sit here confusing you with creating a bit of free advertising for somewhere many of you might never actually go to, but if you do happen to ever be in the area, please do please pay them a visit, for purely selfish reasons, of course.

After all,  going to Keswick just wouldn't be the same for us without it, so we need the rest of you to keep it going when we're not around.