Instant Coffee

I've started drinking instant coffee at work.

I don't know why it has happened.

On reflection, I think it has to do with one of two things. It could be that I have nostalgic memories of pulling my motorcycle apart with my dad. Confused and overwhelmed, my heart would start to beat faster and my hands would get sweaty. My dad, on the other hand, would always be able to walk away and grab a coffee while working out the latest fault. He would grab me one and we (meaning, "he") would get to work figuring out the problem at hand. Dad's coffee is always instant. I was at his house the other month and he proudly proclaimed that he had some filter coffee when Ange and I winced when offered instant. He pulled out the package. Its best-before-date was August, 2000. We drank it anyway. So, the nostalgic feeling of calm and accomplishment in the face of catastrophic engine failure is one potential reason for me now turning to instant coffee at work.

The other, probably more likely explantion is that I am shockingly lazy. Our offices are in the old servants' quarters of a manor house built in 1856. The kitchen is through a maze of halls and stairs. Getting water from the nearby WC is okay except that the tap leaks horribly. The leaky tap means you have to use both hands to turn the tap as tightly as possible to stem the drip--and even that isn't perfect. Only employing a wrench would really cease the drip permanently. It can actually be quite painful to turn the tap on and off and the torque required means that people really have to put their weight behind it. The consequence is that the sink is starting to pull away from the wall. I know my luck and I really don't want to be the person who actually pulls the sink off the wall. I just can't be associated with that sort of water damage to my place of work. All that to say, water for both the coffee machine and cleaning the pot and wire filter is too far away for regular trips. So, laziness is the second potential reason for turning to istant coffee.

As I reflect and give it more thought than it deserves, I can only think of one thing. I need a coffee. Maybe someone else has mercifully made some filter coffee...