Thus the manager of Coffee Republic in Waterstone’s Bookshop, a part of the Oracle complex in Reading, when he saw me in Coffee Republic that just opened on Broad Street, a stone’s throw from his own café. After a mock frown, he grinned at me. “Funny,” I smiled back as bravely as I could, “that’s exactly how I feel.” The manager of the new café, a young woman who was talking to my old pal when I arrived, smiled modestly at both of us.