At the Village Cafe

I had a most enjoyable time today eating lunch and drinking coffee with 'D'. We met at the Village Cafe and spent a couple of hours together talking about many things - except for perhaps the most obvious topic.

'D' is connected to an area of our ministry and I have always enjoyed talking and listening to him. The other day we made arrangements to meet in town for lunch today. I'm not sure how old 'D' is. Probably somewhere in his late seventies. For the latter half of his life he has been involved in drama in its various forms - film, TV, theatre. He has been part of a touring theatre company, directed and produced plays, had a number of roles in films staring alongside some big names, and even made a few appearances in 'Father Ted'!

We talked about some of the films he liked and about Irish poets and travel and Shakespeare. 'D' has also written a few poems in his time. I'd like to read a few of his poems. He said it would give him an excuse to organize them and he would dig them out. I can't help wondering about "hidden works of art" that there must be in other people I've come to know. It would be nice to do something to draw these out of people, especially my elderly acquaintances.

I wish I could have spent longer with 'D', but I needed to get on. As we parted company 'D' shook my hand and gave me an affectionate knock on the arm. I think he appreciated the time as much as I did. We made some tentative plans to meet again soon and play some chess.

Although I offered him a lift home, 'D' decided the walk would do him good. His next appointment this afternoon was at St Lukes for another dose of radiotherapy.

A (not very) Ambitious Goal

I once read about an ambitious man who had a goal of visiting every Starbucks coffeehouse in the USA. I can't see how he did it as there must be more opening all the time.

It has inspired me, however, to set a similar goal here in Ireland. I hereby declare my intentions to visit every Starbucks in the Republic of Ireland!

Umm...ok, so there's actually only four at the moment, but I've been to two so I'm half way there already. I'll keep you posted.

I went to Starbucks (Harcourt) to spend an hour studying for an essay I'm writing about the mission of the Church in post-modern culture. I didn't get an awful lot done as my seat by the window allowed me to get distracted by the world as it went by.

I did enjoy my blueberry muffin and fair trade coffee. For all people say about Starbucks I do appreciate them serving fair trade coffee as a regular feature. I'm a keen supporter of Fair Trade.

While I was reading, a woman came in and stood just inside the door talking on the phone in quite a loud and upset manner. It seemed a business deal was about to go down the tubes. She did have the courtesy to step back outside to finish the conversation and I couldn't help watching her from my window view. (Who wouldn't?!) It did make me grateful for the life and career that I have that shouldn't lead to too many stressed phone calls on the run. I like my life!

My wife and daughter showed up shortly afterwards from their trip into the city, but only came in for about a minute when we were all informed that they were going to do a routine emergency evacuation that is standard practice every six months. I thought this was strange as they only opened two weeks ago.

Empire 201

Usually I walk to Moda. It only takes about 10 mins and is a good opportunity to spend some time thinking, praying, listening to my mp3 player, or just smiling at people coming the other way. But tonight it was pouring down with rain so I decided to drive. I still got pretty wet just walking from the car to the coffeehouse. (I need to find out if it is ok to park outside Moda after 7:00pm)

I took along the latest issue of Empire (movie magazine). Looks like some good movies coming out over the next few months: mission:Impossible 3; Sunshine (sci-fi film. My wife will hate it, but I think I'll enjoy it. Looks like a similar genre to 2001/Solaris - great movies); a couple of films about 9/11; Pirates of the Caribbean 2; The Da Vinci Code (??? - I need to try and finish that book). The main feature was a list of the 201 best films of all time as voted by the readers (except for me). Maybe I should have voted because my all time favourite film, Star Wars came in 4th. Number 1 was The Shawshank Redemption - a good movie right enough.

I've seen just over half of the movies in the list which isn't bad going, but leaves some catching up to do. Some of the ones that stood out for me where:

• The Truman Show (154)
• Cinema Paradiso (128)
• Hero (125)
• The Blues Brothers (101)
• Moulin Rouge (61)
• American Beauty (51)
• The Matrix (10)
• Fight Club (8)
• and, of course, Star Wars (4)

There are a good few films in the list that I'd like to see, including:

• Fargo (120)
• Brazil (114) - I think I have that on tape somewhere??
• Cool Hand Luke (77) - someone recommended this to me just last week.
• Lawrence of Arabia (31)
• Alien (14)
• The Godfather (5) - I can't believe I haven't seem any of this trilogy!

It was raining even harder when I left Moda, but I promised my wife I'd get her a packet of Fruit Pastiles. I got soaked in the process, but it is Valentines Day.

Views from a Coffeehouse

So I was sitting in one of my local coffeehouses a couple of weeks ago when I stopped what I was doing and looked around:

The woman in the sofa next to me was quite well dressed, had made an order for a cappuccino, was talking on the phone in quite a posh accent and was reading a cheapy tabloid - which I thought was a little out of character. Across from me was another woman who had ordered something vegetarian and looked like she was waiting for someone else to arrive. They were either late or stood her up - either way she left as soon as she finished eating. A third woman across and to my left (there were guys, but they all seemed to walk through my seating area and outside to smoke) drank a second cup of tea while she opened the wrapping on what looked like a new journal notebook. After a few moments of looking around she started to make an entry.

I couldn't help wondering what she was writing about...was it us?

That's when I got the idea that it might be fun to write a few reflections on thoughts that I have while at a coffeehouse. It will probably be about people watching, inspiration from books I'm reading, conversations with other customers or staff, the music that is being played, the art work on the walls, aspects of my developing theology or the view from the coffeehouse window. I may even record experiences outside the coffeehouse like walking down the street or chatting at a kitchen table. The common thread will be coffee in some shape or form.

Enjoy...


"God saw all that he had made, [including the coffee bean] and it was very good."
Genesis 1:31