I had somebody else make me a cup of coffee for the first time in three months last weekend. My fist interaction with a barista in a very long time. It might not have been the full sit down coffeeshop experience I’ve long pined for but it was the first step back in in the right direction.
A few posts ago I wrote about how I don’t really feel ready to take advantage of some of the lockdown loosening that’s been happening and to a large extent it’s still how I feel. It hasn’t been helped by today’s announcement that as of next week the UK will finally catch up with large parts of Europe and and the rest of the world when it makes the wearing of face masks mandatory in all shops. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I’m opposed to wearing masks if they help in the current situation. It’s just that suddenly telling me I have to wear one in shops does feel to clash a bit with the corresponding message that pubs, bars and restaurants, where clearly you’re not going to wear a mask, are safe places to be. Maybe it’s me being paranoid but it feels as if we’re drowning in a sea of mixed messages at the moment.
So for now I think I’ll stick with a coffee to go and ideally a Danish with it. It’s going to be an alfresco coffee summer. Last Saturday’s came from the rather wonderful Cross Street Union in Holt* and after three months it was good to finally ask for a black Americano again.
*After Holt we went onto the beautiful North Norfolk village of Cley next the Sea and that’s where I took the photo with this post.
David in the kitchen. 