I picked up my notebook and headed into town, went round the town observing then into Overgate shopping centre. It was a Wednesday morning, not too busy but enough to be able to observe people without looking like a weirdo, I was able to disguise myself by not taking any notes until I got myself a coffee outside the mall and wrote everything down, as much as I could remember at least. At that time of day there were a lot of elderly people, apart from the food section upstairs where it was full of students from school on their lunch break. It seemed like they go there everyday because I overheard a couple saying before hand what they were going to order and running in order to get there before it got completely packed. It was funny to see how after their lunch, it was mostly girls that went round the shops when the boys just kept on being boys and loud at Subway. While walking round a clothes store I happened to be walking behind a group of girls ( I wasn't stalking) so I followed them up the escalators when I caught all three looking in there reflections and fixing their hair, one of them realized I was looking and probably felt awkward, so she pretended to be looking at something really interesting and carried on talking to her friends. I weren't intending to follow them everywhere, so once I got to the top of the escalators I took my own way. It felt like I was doing a bit of Ethnography, without of course interacting with people or talking to them, I was simply observing and listening. Even in shops there are some rules you don't really realize until you want to try something on and you go to the changing rooms. You can't just walk in try it on and walk out again, there is something you do automatically, even if there isn't a sales assistant to give you a number, you don't just pick one and go ahead, you wait till somebody comes to ask you how many items you've got although they can see for themselves then give you a tag and u can finally try the clothing on!
After observing in the mall, I went for a coffee and sat down to think about what I had seen. As I was writing down my notes, I noticed a lot of people walk in in a rush and take a coffee out, I also saw one man buy a take away and try and ride his bicycle with one hand. I then started to think that their could be something cyclists could ask for with their coffee. Like sometimes when you buy more than one drink they ask you if you want a tray so it's easier to carry. Cyclist should probably have somewhere to put their drinks already on their bikes but for the odd couple, there should be a complete service. Something like a plastic cup with an attached clip that could easily and quickly be attached to the bicyscle and also be reusable. If are some doodling I done at the coffee shop...
It probably wouldn't work but it's just an idea of a service coffee shops could provide!
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