Coffee & computers, aahhhh I can smell it now, I’m sure you can too, they naturally go together like beer & fags or Helen Hunt & my dirty mind or WinTel & agro.  What is the coffee link to computer use, why is it necessary to have that hot, black steaming elixir in your favourite mug just next to where the mouse tracks?  The absence of which is rather like the unsettling feeling you get if you accidentally wear womens knickers! . . . or is that just me?

Hang on I’ve just got to put the kettle on, back in a couple of minutes...

That’s better, it’s like writing about your fantasies, after a while you’ve just gotta go and sort yourself out. The link? Is it simply a caffeine thing? I don’t think so with me as I can’t drink instant coffee, the taste is, well bloody disgusting. I take the time to make a cafetiere or rather clean it out after last time while the kettle boils and wait impatiently while the kettle does its thing, suspended in the aroma of the fresh coffee sitting in the bottom of the pot. Did you know the instant coffee people spray a coffee smell in the top of the jar so that when you open it the first few times it smells real then after a while you don’t notice it doesn't smell like coffee any more. Try it, go and sniff your half full jar of coffee granules.

	Cyber Cafe’s have coffee, oh yeah. The Cyber Cafe experience for me is one of something to do while drinking a ‘shit hot’ cup of coffee while out in town, I don't’ need to go to the cafe for Internet access as I have all that in the office, it’s the beans, and the company. I suggest the fate of a Cyber Cafe hinges not on if the town has sufficient market share for the service or its position in the town centre, its the coffee. Quarks Cyber Cafe in Guildford is a cramped but well designed space in Jefferies Passage, they talk my language there, I always learn something and you can play Quake across the network (the only way to play Quake is on a network with 8 other chaps using Anglo Saxon without a safety net every time they get shot, it’s hilarious, do it) and all this while nurturing a cup of the best coffee in Guildford, trust me I know. The other Cyber Cafe’s in town are never as busy as Quarks, the coffee comes out of a machine that does cappuccino, hot chocolate and soup too!!!!

	So back to the link, its not just caffeine, there’s as much caffeine in cheap tea as there is in any coffee and who’s ever seen a mug with ‘I’d rather be drinking Tea’ for sale in any Mac mag!  Taste is everything.  I think the caffeine helps because staring at a Cathode Ray Tube Monitor (CRT) does you head in, a bit like what a microwave does to a large potato, plus as we all know CRTs makes your eyes heavy, so the kick has a use. But if you’re on a Mac for any period of time you are concentrating on something so you need a powerful taste to break thru the spell the Mac has you in, whether it’s a game, the Internet or even work. 

	When you’re addicted to the best computer platform in the world you obviously need the best companion, Batman has Robin, George Best has beer and the humble Mac addict has coffee. Think about it and it will make sence!

The oh so humble opinions expressed here are my own and not brain washed into me by the Mickysofts’ of the world, I got this narrow minded on my own and with the help of my father while I was growing-up.  If you want a portion, and I have time, eMail me at .............

 


 .............mark@1984-online.com

Adios until next time, if there is a next time! and for a more enriched life experience visit - http://www.1984-online.com it's essential, I did and therefore I am!!!.