There is so much talk of doom and gloom in the world financial markets, maybe I am just a naive optimist but I feel like saying ‘wake up and smell the coffee’. The mistakes of the US property market have not been replicated in any other country and there is little likelihood of this happening, since housing is in short supply in most of Europe at least. Until we were told we had problems, we appeared to have a buoyant economy if you observe the coffee bar barometer – so many of them are opening in my high street, all doing good business. this is certainly a boost for the makers of espresso machines at least.