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I work from home for a number of clients, and whilst it does have a lot of drawbacks, there are a couple of things I’ve become quite fond of in recent months. Perhaps surprisingly, for somebody who isn’t really much of a morning person, my morning breakfast routine has become perhaps the best overall part of the day.

Thinking back I’ve never really been that much of a breakfast person. That said, I think it’s mainly London that I didn’t ‘do’ breakfast: At university I might have grabbed a bowl of crunchy-nut cornflakes or something, in Duesseldorf a ‘Brötchen mit Käse und Schinken, bitte‘ (that’s a cheese and ham roll) and gloriously strong coffee. In London however, the stress of the morning rush hour meant that most of the time I’d skip breakfast, preferring to get a coffee and a sandwich/pastry/bun closer to the office. This even became the norm when working in central Glasgow.

I have now come to realise that caffeine depletion is, perversely, a Good Thing to maintain when dealing with the hum-drum or tedious. The fuzzy haze that hangs about is a great aid in getting through the journey to work, or dealing with something really rather dreary (in my central Glasgow case, dealing with Lotus Notes and tedious overnight e-mails; Oh, and the job itself). I really do pity the poor souls who don’t have this otherwise negative affliction when standing in a crammed tube, train or bus. iPod’s can only get you so far…

Anyway, back to the breakfast routine. The fuzzy-haze thing is good for getting the porridge done. Yes, I’m a porridge person these days. Although summer starting to show some tentative signs of appearing has reinvigorated my weetabix-and-fruit notion. Microwave porridge sachets from quaker or whomever is a stroke of genius I tell you. Sure, it’s overloaded with sugar, but that’s a good thing too. A big glass of orange juice (A large bottle of tropicana has become a regular purchase/treat; Supermarket own orange juice is just awful in comparison). I’ll munch and slurp these things as I get through the initial checks and e-mails.

But it’s the coffee that’s glorious. With my ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ mug that for some inexplicable reason I’ve developed a strong preference for (I’ll even wash it when it’s at hand, rather than grab a comparable one that might be clean). Frances noted the ‘Not suitable for Dishwashers and microwaves‘ instruction on it’s base just the other day. Oooops. Oh well, three years of dishwasher and microwave re-heats haven’t done it any harm so far. I’d also wondered why the mug got hot instead of the liquid when in the microwave. Now I know… But I’m wary that it may all go horribly wrong very very suddenly. Probably over my new computer if I’m not careful… And that’d be a bad start to the day.

The taste of coffee is of course perfection in a cup. But the smell of the coffee brewing downstairs is a delight that heralds the treat ahead. Traipsing downstairs after having eaten my breakfast to get my first cup is anticipation itself. I feel like a cartoon character being dragged by their nose by the alluring smell of a freshly baked pie…. (Why is it always on the window ledge? That’s a silly place to put it!)

Then the initial flow of caffeine back into the bloodstream, and then the brain and enthusiasm get going.

Yes, coffee. It’s great. Both it’s absence – strictly for dealing with the mundane of course; But by far the better is of course the delight of imbibing it, absorbing it, making it one with you. Marvellous.

The only problem is the rest of the day. It’s sadly only downhill now…

At least until the next cup.

You don’t think I waste any of the coffee in my coffee pot do you?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 9:27 am and is filed under Coffee, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.