Quicklinks:
|
Great Writing - Home > Short S. > Aqua Vita / Liquid of Life
| READING ROOM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| COMMUNITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| ABOUT GREAT WRITING | ||
|---|---|---|
|
| WORK AWAITING REVIEW |
|---|
|
| GW IS... |
|---|
|
Great Writing creative writing community is designed to prompt ideas
and provide inspiration and motivation within aspiring and amateur
authors. Whatever your topic; from love poetry to Doctor Who or Harry
Potter fan fiction, Great Writing's online writing group is where you
can make new friends and improve your creative writing. |
| WHO'S ONLINE |
|---|
| We have 1672 guests online and 6 members online |
Shorts
| print friendly version | |
| Aqua Vita / Liquid of Life | |
| By Bagheera | ||||||||||
| 11 October 2006 | ||||||||||
|
This just sort of sprawled across my screen while I sat idly by and watched ..... funny how these things happen sometimes ..... ??????? Aqua Vita/Liquid of life Ripped, living and breathing, from the arms that bore you just as you reach your pinnacle of growth and health and laid alongside countless millions of your siblings. Once you have suffered the indignity of being baked under a pitiless, hot sun for several days until you have become desiccated and sere you are suddenly and without ceremony transferred to a large, sealed container and roasted slowly over an open fire. Addiction or aphrodisiac, pacifier or pick-me-up, life’s blood or the bane of life, the humble coffee bean has much to answer for. The ‘hit’ from a well-brewed cup of coffee is unlike any other ‘high’ any individual can experience: indeed, the pheromones released immediately into the bloodstream – particularly from the first of the day’s intake of caffeine – can be considered just as powerful as those associated with sex. Growing up in post-war, rationbook-restricted Liverpool I cannot now say with any certainty just when I made the conscious decision to eschew the teapot forever in favour of the cafetière. What I do know for certain is, at the time coffee was not considered a suitable beverage for young children, and for this reason I imagine I had achieved a double-digit age before I nailed my colours to the mast. By the time I started secondary school I had taken to spending as many weekends as possible away from home, camping with the local Scout troop. In a time when teabags were still the “new kid on the block”, instant coffee powder (in a watertight tin) would have been an automatic choice rather than fragile paper packets containing loose tea leaves! It is a curious but undeniable fact that the “active ingredient” in coffee is generally agreed to be equally effective to ‘calm the nerves’ in a given set of circumstances, while at the same time being recognised as an excellent way of kick-starting a sluggish metabolism, particularly after a night of over-indulgence…….. Together with every other addict throughout history, I am of course convinced that I am “in control” of my dependency/need/craving for the unique stimulus caffeine provides. Together with every other addict, I will eventually be forced to admit that I am in denial, and far from “in control”: if anything, quite the reverse! I am however obliged to admit that there have been times when I have been embarrassed by a Micawber-esque “temporary insufficiency of funds” and forced to decide between purchasing coffee or buying a meal. No contest … ! Can anyone survive any level of public examinations without recourse to the stimulus of mind and body which this perfectly legal drug imparts? From my own experience I would argue that this is most unlikely. Consumption peaks at times of greatest stress, and I am convinced that there is a direct correlation between the importance of the qualification and the amount of coffee which the body demands. Is the drug habit forming? And if it is, can I become a registered ‘user’ and apply to an obscure corner of a welfare office for assistance if I want to “get clean”? Raise the stakes, and raise the coffee bar once more. I know for a fact that I managed to get through my final fortnight at University on a liquid diet which consisted almost entirely of coffee. If truth be told I cannot remember taking much time out to eat, and I suppose I snatched what sleep I managed sprawled in a comfortable chair with a book in my hands – the term “powernapping” is something I’ve heard discussed, but I cannot decide whether the term is appropriate or not. There can be no doubt that caffeine sharpens the mind and hones reactions in situations which demand that we react in a manner above and beyond what may be regarded as ‘normal’ conditions. Faced with a life-threatening emergency, somebody will always come up with a supply of coffee for the knight in shining armour who rides to the rescue. By contrast, it is also undeniably true that once the danger has passed, the same cup of coffee is generally accepted as a way of ‘calming the nerves’ and relaxing! Drawing together the known facts regarding coffee and the different circumstances (whether positive or otherwise) in which it is deemed to be indispensable, it is tempting to conclude that there is an urgent need for further research into the social, medical and psychological implications of the caffeine habit. It is therefore my bounden duty as a responsible citizen to offer my services as expert researcher and willing volunteer for such a project to the appropriate Government department, subject of course to sufficient funding being made available over a suitable period of time ………..
Only registered users can rate and write comments. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
||||||||||
 Previous item
|
Next item
|
|---|