My dirty little secret

My pardner Slacker used to push me to write. He challenged me to stir up those creative juices and let flow, he also kept me supplied with endless cups of fresh brewed coffee to ensure that I made it through the day, mind intact. Needless to say, Slacker, you are missed. Hard as it is to believe, I'd given up Rituals, scary really. But their product, once a necessary start to each day; hot, aromatic, filled with caffeine in every delightful mouthful, suddenly wasn't. I don't know what happened. Maybe the change in Barista, maybe it was company policy, but my formerly real cup of coffee degenerated into something not. A situation that left me reeling, without a place to anchor. It was not a good time.

My blessed assistant makes a really good cup of java, the last few months she's been popping them on to my desk fearing that without, the boss would go postal. Not as far fetched as you might imagine. Huge amounts of gratitude to her! And then, she went on vacation. Oh God help the department. The whispers started early, "has anybody seen her have coffee", "was she in the kitchen making some"..."is it safe?" Reluctantly, in desperation, a visit was paid to a nearby Rituals and by golly, it was back! Yes, the love affair is on again. But wait, something is still missing. This is the dirty little secret.

Without Slacker to egg me on, I didn't want to write. No fun really. But then, an odd thing happened. Quite in a roundabout way, another blogger filled the void. One morning, while gulping down a Cafe latte grande, the expresso making quick work of the dullness that accompanies most morning's, there he was, making me laugh my head off. The next morning he made me think. Slowly but surely I was fighting my way back. I was in again. Even more odd, we are in the same profession, so to speak, we both are addicted to the mighty brew and we both are passionate. He's much quicker than me, his blog writing much more together but it's fun talking to him, the thrill is back.

Angry African, if you're reading this, thanks.