A proper cup of coffee

[pegkerr]

Now that the girls are back in school, I am back to my non-summer coffee routine. Instead of freezing espresso at night and using the blender to make a coffee slushie in the morning, I am making a cup of espresso, frothing milk, and combining it into a latte.

However, I ran into an unexpected snag on my way out the door. I grabbed my hot coffee commuter cup and put the coffee into it--but I could not get the lid to screw on. I monkeyed with it for three minutes, getting more and more frustrated, but a glance at the clock showed I was pushing my luck, and I grabbed my purse and bag and the open cup of coffee and headed out to pull out my car.

At every stop light, I tried to put the lid on, but I could not for the life of me get the lid to screw on. Finally, the cup holder collapsed, spilling coffee all over the floor, prompting a string of curses.

Fuming, I pulled into work, brought my stuff upstairs, went back down and mopped up the mess with paper towels, and then came back and washed out the cup. "Here, you try it," I told my cubicle mate in exasperation. "Can you get that lid on?"

She messed with it for about thirty seconds, getting more and more puzzled, and then turned the lid over and looked at it. "Your cup needs a screw on lid--but this is a snap on lid. See?"

I looked, chagrined, and realized that she was absolutely right. The plastic matched perfectly--but it was the lid for an entirely different cup.

So I wasn't crazy after all.

Just stupid.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee, made in a proper copper coffee pot,
I may be off my dot, but I want a proper coffee in a proper copper pot.
Iron coffee pots and tin coffee pots, they are no use to me!
If I can't have a proper cup of coffee in a proper copper coffee pot, I'll have a cup of tea!

Comments

[callunav.livejournal.com]

*What* is that poem you're quoting? It sounds like A.A. Milne. I love it.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Here ya go! It's from the singing group "Trout Fishing in America." It's a scream

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's marvelous. I want to hear it - I can't get the line that starts with 'Iron' to scan in my head.

It reminds me - in presentation style, rather than content - of the song about the ladies of the harem of the court of King Harakticus (sp?), which I learned in grad school (yes, /in/ school, not just while I was a student) and of which I am inordinately fond.

[(Anonymous)]

Court of King Caractacus lyrics: http://everything2.com/?node_id=948063

I've actually done that one as a diction warmup at rehearsals of a musical. Definitely more fun than "red leather yellow leather".

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Aw, totally. "Red leather yellow leather" doesn't work if you get into a rhythm with it, anyhow. (In the UK they say 'Red lorry yellow lorry.' You learn these things if you live in England when you're ten.)

Do you know the 'There's a bump on the twig on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea?'song? Or, possibly my very favorite, "Mrs. Murphy's Chowder"? (The score they provide isn't great, unfortunately, but they have a verse I never heard before.)

[blazebox.livejournal.com]

'There's a bump on the twig on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea?'song?

Man I remember that vaguely. Over here we do the 'Red Lorry..." thing as well besides the leather. It's combined actually.

And I've always wanted to know about that Mrs. Murphy's Chowder. Thanks for the link! :)

[qwyneth.livejournal.com]

Hee. I have been there many, many times before. I like to call it genius syndrome--my mind is too busy grappling with Great Creativity and the Great Problems of the Universe to bother with such silly, common sensical things as coffee cup lids. Truly they are for Little People with Little Minds. ;)

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

"Genius syndrome" -- I shall try to remember to use that :-).

I've often referred to something similar with the tag-line of a Gary Larson cartoon -- "School for the Gifted" (the drawing shows a child pushing on an entrance door clearly labeled "pull").

[leiabelle.livejournal.com]

Best comic ever!

[mochajava13.livejournal.com]

I was linked to your journal from somewhere else (no idea where though), and I just have to say, I feel the pain. Not only does the screw top NOT WORK, but an entire cup of perectly good coffee was wasted. Every morning, I do something incredibly stupid (usually related to trying to make my morning cup of coffee) before I have my cup of coffee. I feel like I need to idiot proof myself every night.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it Shaw who said that the reason it's so hard to foolproof something is because fools are so ingenious? You can just reassure yourself that every little incident is proof of your ingenuity.

[mochajava13.livejournal.com]

Hm, I think I'll have to use that next time I try to put the cereal in the fridge and the milk for the cereal and coffee on mtop of the frdge. Hmm, ingenious place to put them!