guilt's a funny ol' thing

So every morning when I come to work I walk through this wee 'passage', and have been known to stop at a cafe there. During a period of renovation (following a change of ownership) though my bus buddy and I discovered a new cafe just around the corner which sells divine cakes (none too helpful for the ol' spare tyre I've been sit-upping away at so hard).

Anyway, yesterday lunchtime my bus buddy and I (that sounds odd, as she is more than just someone I take the bus with now - we actually talk and stuff, like real friends, but anyway, to maintain her anonymity here, she will be termed my bus buddy as that's how it all began). Alas I digress. Yesterday my bus buddy and I had planned to go to this new cafe and get tea and donuts. Mmm donuts... Having raved about these donuts at work, I promised the guy next to me that I would bring him one back. But lo and behold, when we got there, there was nary a donut in sight. Fine for us, cause we could have something else (and I can now also recommend their apple danish, mm mm good) but I returned to the office empty-handed, and promised to get them this morning.

Which brings me round to the point of this morning's entry. When I got off the bus, I set off on my way and then it occured to me - if I were to go my usual route, I would have to go past my usual morning tea establishment, and the owner 1) knows me by name 2) tends to sit outside when he's not too busy. But the other way - well, I had started now.

So I continued, praying that this morning, my usual place would be busy. I got lucky. Lady luck struck again when I got to the new cafe and they had an array of donuts. (For the record, one choc ice ring for me, yum, and a jam one for my friend next to me.) And of course a tea ;)

On the way back, I got to a corner and could decide to go left, come round the far side of the office, or keep going straight (the way I tend to go). Habit won in the end, tempted though I was to go and see if the dead mouse was still in the drain, which bus bud had shown me yesterday. This is where I went wrong. As I went past the top of the passage, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the owner of my usual morning establishment sitting outside. Oh no! And I was blatantly holding a styrofoam cup from somewhere else. Oh no! Talk about caught red-handed. I bustled faster, praying that he wouldn't see me through the parked 4x4 (the first time I've ever been grateful for one of those beasts).

And I started to think - why should I feel guilty for buying my tea elsewhere? Surely it's better to keep my promise to my friend at work? (And you know, I quite fancied a donut too.) And then I thought some more - maybe I could persuade the new owner of my morning place to sell donuts (at present he does not) and maybe add peach tea to his selection so I can avoid this ridiculous guilt again.