Coffee and Companionship

Most women can relate to meeting up with their friends at their local coffee shop for their favourite coffee blend and a good gossip session.

I have my own favoured cafes which are nearby or further afield and with preferred blends such as Merlo or Di Bello - not too weak, but just right. When making my favourite flat white the best baristas leave a signature design on the top - sometimes a heart, sometimes a leaf. A "Flat White" is common to Australia and perhaps if you requested it in the States or its companion a "Long Black" people might look at you askance. Was their a racist undertone there?

If alone, I always take a good book along to accompany me as I drink my brew. I sneak a glance over the coffee cup at the layout of the shop and who might be part of the scene. Sometimes its young mums with a toddler or two, or two friends close in conversation, or after school hours, the mums and the older kids. More regularly now you see a group of men, young and not so young, some of them alone taking in the scenery. There are retirees or students with their hefty tertiary books.

I bend to my book again and become immersed in its content. It feels good to be part of the community. This is what life teaches you - the old adage "no man is an island". As much as we like our solitude the fact that we can reach out and smile or talk to a fellow human being brings warmth to the soul.