Out to Starbucks

When I want to have some undistracted time, just me and my laptop, I remove the device's charger and head over to a place that sells coffee.  For about $3 I can rent a table or sit on a stool at a counter, creating the merger of mind and fingers to articulate ideas, some to be shared later, most not.  Coffee Houses have long been places where ideas float around, a few of them transforming the world. Through most of the time coffee and its variants have been available at a price most were willing to spend, thoughts were exchanged between sips, usually in the form of conversation with another fellow also sipping coffee.  They would be penned later by some.  The contemporary coffee house continues a similar, though not identical theme.  People share tables for conviviality and conversation.  Others like me bring their laptops with keyboards or cell phones without keyboards.  Some type away on Word, committing ideas to language, but more create private time by checking their email or interpersonal time by calling each other, texting messages, or contributing their thoughts through their favorite interactive cyberspace forum.  For me, it's private time to type what I wish to express with no regard for any future recipient.

The coffee houses of Vienna, Italy, and England probably had more distinctiveness than the places available to me, which have become standardized.  Some are regional, a few independent, more national or global with a repetitive atmosphere that enables familiarity despite travel.  The coffee itself can be obtained more economically at home with a Melitta Cone or K-cup machine.  For being alone, though with a car instead of a device, any convenience store in a gas station complex will provide that.  The Coffee House adds ambience, part of the premium price.  The beverages come in two types, indulgent creations and basic coffee, which I always choose.  And customers seeking the $3 quiet time typically get to choose from four options: light, dark, flavored, and decaf.  All provide connection to the electronic universe and to a restroom when needed.  And all have some form of mini-meal that can be added, one usually more healthy than extravagant.

Needing a break, I headed off, choosing a Starbucks, not the closest to my home but near a pharmacy where I had a prescription waiting to be picked up.  Some line of cars at the drive through.  That never made a lot of sense to me, as the WaWa across the street for a quick stop had more varieties, a lower price and a fixings table that permitted customization.  The lot for indoor coffee at a table was far less utilized.  I got mine, a very large one.  To my distress, the additive table was no more.  The barista added cream or sugar at the customer's request.  The other places that I could have gone still put out honey, cinnamon, sometimes cocoa powder, sometimes ground nutmeg.  Not here.  I took my laptop to the counter, the place where I could stare only at my screen.  The surface really needed to be washed down to remove the droplets of sticky scattered over it.  I moved to a table and typed for a while.

Sipped maybe a third of the coffee, a bit larger and thirty cents more than I thought I had requested.  Closed the laptop, returned to my car, got my prescription at the adjacent shopping center.  The European experiences of prior centuries has swooned.