Nobody's Calling 'Cause The Sky Is Falling...

A late afternoon thunderstorm not only cleared the outside patio, it discouraged everyone from even stopping off and having a coffee inside. There was about nobody to talk with and a major reason for hanging out at Starbucks is being around people, talking with the ones you know and meeting the ones you don't. So here I was, sitting next to my coffee and trying to find something of interest to read out of the magazine bin between the two big black chairs.

Coffee houses were so much friendlier and more interesting when they still allowed smoking. Pipes were popular and filled the air with exotic aromas. You'd be offered the opportunity to fill your bowl with a new blend and jump on it, knowing full well that to really get the correct flavor you'd need to clean out the gloop from inside the stem, ream the char from the bowl, and "season" the pipe by smoking three or four bowls worth of the new blend. Still, it'd be a different taste than your regular blend, and who could resist that? Now pipe shops are a thing of the past. At best you'll find a few old standby blends at the drugstore, but there's no longer a display of Kaywoodie and Yello-Bowl briar pipes up by the register.

When the rain let up a bit I ran out to the truck, lit up, and drove home. If I'm going to be alone at least I want to be able to have a smoke with my coffee.