COFFEE BUM
The Isolation Blues;
reflections during covid-19
Over the years I’ve established a caffeine-earned reputation as a coffee bum and spent more time in diners and small coffee shops than I care to admit. When I’m on the road I’m always on the lookout for an interesting stop for a coffee break and check out the local scene. And for years a basic cup of coffee was one of best values for the dollar (when you could still get a cup of coffee for under a dollar). With waitress service and free-refills you could literally drink coffee for hours and hours; all afternoon or late into the night at a 24-hour truck stop. Of course you needed to tip well to pull that off and keep coming back. It was not unusual to have one waitress’s shift end and then carry right over into the next. In that case you ended up tipping twice, but it was still worth the added expense. In my case I was an easy customer; I took my coffee black with no sugar and my customary line was “I never turn down a refill…” This is how I became a coffee bum. This also gave me a chance to casually browse reading material or scribble thoughts in my little notebook. Here is an example of observations from hanging out in a cafe one cold winter day in Bangor, Maine.
notebook entry; January 15, 1996 I’m sitting here in the West Market Cafe in downtown Bangor. It’s a cold, bitter windchill day; the awning on front of the cafe is rolled up but blowing in the winter gusts, ice clinging to the frayed ends of fabric. People walk by in wool coats and breath blown out of their mouth. There’s a steamy cup of coffee painted on the old glass door of the cafe beckoning people to come in for a minute and get out of the brisk Bangor air. A forty-ish lady just walked by in a long tight black leather jacket with long straight blonde hair flowing in the same wind all pedestrians share today. Beatles, The Doors, hot jazz and Santana play on giant speakers above the coffee bar full of dark exotic beans from out of town, muffins, bagels, biscotti and a large glass jar full of a yellow glob floating in liquid. Drinking a cup of coffee thoughtfully as if the axis of the whole world turned on this point of intelligent awareness, my coffee cup echoes on the marble top bistro table empty from the void appearing in a small downtown cafe.
In the woods, (drinking coffee)
Dave
February 2, 2021