that's what I call table service

A cafe in Christchurch soon promises to become very cool. Is it a new way of serving drip coffee? No. A new single origin blend? No. You guessed, it, it is all about pneumatic tubes. This cafe, C1 Espresso, not only already offers what Andy Warhol once dreamed of - sending customer orders to the kitchen by tube - but is promising much more: delivery of your order, directly to your table, by tube.


For now the cafe owners describe sending miniburgers by tube but one can imagine a whole host of different spherical food items that could be sent to customers' tables by the pneumatic system: pancakes, muffins, clams, poached eggs, bowls of ice-cream ... the list could be endless - and no problems with food getting too cold, or too warm, it is there in seconds! Just hope for a soft landing.

in the newsroom

Julie Starr posted this wonderful photo from the New Zealand Herald Manual of Journalism, 1967, on her blog The Evolving Newsroom. It appears that accepting copy from the editorial department and sending galley proofs via pneumatic tubes was once a busy job for printers - I can see at least seven shutes!