Coffee and Covid…

Thoughts on getting things right…

I haven’t had a day in the city lately. I’ve been ok with that. I usually relish days spent in my quiet village, far from the noise, the traffic, the barren faces of commuting crowds. I love getting off the train at the end of the ride home and smelling the playfully-irreverent salt air of my seaside home. The one thing I miss about the city is the cafes. There’s one with gold letters in the window boasting “coffee and booze for the working class.” Another window-front suggests that we “wake up naked, drinking coffee and making plans to change the world.” Both seem to me to be thoroughly reasonable aims. There’s Brickfields, where they turn baked goods into a sacred experience, there’s the Merchants of Ultimo, where you find out what it would be like if heaven was made of pastry. Then, there’s Toby’s Estate. Toby’s is my favourite. It’s the closest to my office, the coffee is the best money can buy, and the two best baristas, Lulu and Joseph, always remember my name.

I made the trip into the city for the first time in months today. The building I work in was all locked up. I’ll call security when I finish this coffee so they can let me in. Since I couldn’t get into my office, I went down to Toby’s. Fortunately, they were open, and there was just enough room for me to slip in under the maximum of 15 persons they are now restricted…