No extras for a pleasant coffee shop surprise

There I was begrudging our, er, struggling coffee shops for their high prices and almost in the same breathe, or rattle of the keyboard, I was doubting that our railroads would find (and return) my

lost Windows phones.

Two of them, in fact. A third Windows mobile phone waited snug in my winter jacket pocket.

Surely this isn't the modest Cape Horner trying to outdo his handsomely rewarded London office-workers over the value of phones carried?

The lost phones actually belonged to the lady love until she surrendered them with the purchase of an eyePhone. (iPhone 4.) Lucky girl.

The two elderly yet still capable vital tools of communication were filled with photographs which I hadn't downloaded and wanted to keep. The photos, that is. The phones ought to sell on eBay for about £20 for each, a welcome return for the struggling writer.

However, Stop Press, let me announce that the phones and their owner are reunited, thanks to ... one of the wealthy coffee shops that seemingly didn't wilt at my criticism for the stiff price of the popular drink.

I'd been trying to download the pix from the phones in a crowded train on the way to Bromley to meet up with good friend Denis. I wanted him to see the photos. Denis, now living in Kent, shares my passion for the Cape's extraordinary scenic beauty. The photos captured some of that wonder. 

 Isolated St Helena

I met Denis when he was acting-governor of St Helena island. I had been delivering a South African superyacht to Sweden.

I called in at that isolated South Atlantic island to take a large number of locals on a voyage right around the island, and their governor came along.

I thought I must have left the phones on the crowded train to meet Denis. I lodged 'lost property' requests to the train company but without much hope.

As an afterthought, I phoned the coffee shop where we met, Caffe Nero. A very pleasant non-English woman answered and put me through a gentle security grilling and then revealed that Nero's had the goodies. At least, I took that to be the message offered with a slight accent. I wasn't sure.

On Saturday, I braved the weather and three trains to arrive back in Bromley. …. Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at SailingToPurgatory.com