A takeaway coffee is a strange thing. Paying three hundred times higher than making the drink at home. I usually bring a flask, and find a decent seat. This tricks works everywhere from the middle of the countryside to a city centre, and saves me hundreds of pounds a year.
My only exception to this frugality is the deck of a boat. There is no better place to enjoy a steaming hot drink than with open sea all around.
You might think a place with such a uniform view is a strange choice to break my rule. I disagree. All that infinite water makes it a beverage that breaks linear time. You can forget everything, and enjoy the rolling waves. Discover a blast of civilization in every boiling sip.
Boiling being the crucial word. The bigger the contrast to the weather the better. Some staff protested when I ventured out in the rain. Sometimes the raindrops were so heavy they made tangible bloop noises when hitting my drink. But I persevered on every trip across the ocean.
So when the boat teetered on a wave, and gruesome storm clouds appeared overhead, I did not mind. This is why I had invested in a weatherproof coat and trousers. This is the reason parasols exist.
The shape that burst from the water was almost triangular. Every sucker on every tentacle was porthole sized, and the beak was a thousand times sharper than the world’s largest raptor.
My fellow passengers had fled the rain. This was a view unique to myself. Even with the waves hitting the deck my coffee was still hot. A wonderful result of an electronic machine below deck, and coffee fields hundreds of miles away.
This drink was still worth the view.
