From misfortune to grace

~teacup

I'm in my room, looking away from the monitors to stare at my little terrace-garden.

I renovated this space during the last summer, so that I could enjoy regular breaks away from the computers and phones.

Just me, a cup of tea, some friendly sparrows chirping from the gutters and my plants.

I'm definitely not a green-thumbed person (in the plant kingdom I have a bounty on my head...), but once a friend suggested that I try caring for a vase of Erica Calluna and another of Hedera Helix, saying there's no way I could kill those.

I betted I would kill them in a week. She genuinely laughed at me, but she had her reasons.

In fact, the two plants are currently outside, vibing in the freezing -5°C temperatures of the late evening, along with other siblings I've gathered since.

I head in the kitchen to prepare a good ol' cup of tea, planning to sip it outside while enjoying the company of a lonely redbreast that likes to rest on the railings.

To my surprise, the cooktop doesn't react to the turning of the knob with the usual fuzzy blue flame.

Nothing happens, actually. A not-so-quick call to the gas company and I'm informed they are working on a pipe in my area.

So I'm currently in the cold, with a pile of tasks to do that is scratching the ceiling and I have no tea to calm my nerves.

Every synapse is firing out a firm "NOPE" in my brain.

I grab the laptop backpack and depart for the station, direction: the Midnight.

As I'm hurrying down the road, I realize I've last entered its premises two weeks ago.

Two haunting weeks ago, to be precise: an exam, an entire week of on-site work and a frustrating experience with the dumbest technician ever encountered while working at a client's office, which resulted in 2 grands of deep-fried computers.

The only upside of being in a mental state of hurry apparently is that time speeds up significantly, so the whole train-travel ends in a leap.

The pub is thriving with new faces, along with some older regulars which are cheering together.

The jukebox is blasting some pretty cool music. I get near enough to read "I Am The One you Warned Me Of" on the console.

It's not a genre I listen to frequently, but when gold pops out, the genre doesn't matter.

I look at the jukebox selection of tracks and notice they have a couple of discs from Swingrowers.

Wouldn't you know, they have dreamland. The Midnight never fails to amaze me.

A clink from the wallet and I know I can bend the jukebox to my will.

Insert, push, done.

I then head for the counter where bartender is talking with an upbeat tone. His mood must be skyrocketing.

The stools are already taken by oracle and the new faces. Out of nowhere, from behind the counter, comes another person.

A new keeper? A very old regular? I don't know.

I greet everyone, while bartender introduces us. Quite a lot of people, really!

maya, pink2ds, abacushex, age5 and caffo.

It's nice to see new faces, welcoming faces.

Some of them are software engineers, developers and/or artists. Cool.

While introducing age5, which by the way is absolutely not 5 years old, bartender casually mentions that the pub now has even a bowling alley.

I'm a disaster in most kind of sports, but playing is fun, so the next time I absolutely must try it.

Since the levels of theine in my blood are almost touching pre-addiction levels, I ask him the biggest cup of tea he can manage to brew.

While providing, he also proposes me to try some bread he and Binge3ater baked in the morning. Why not?

The bread surpasses by far all my attempts at homemade bakery goodies hence I offer my compliments, which makes him even more radiant.

Apparently Binge is cooking a new batch as well (it was him I saw hopping between lounge and kitchen); at the mention of freshly baked bread I book for myself another couple of slices.

In the meantime I excuse myself in search of a power plug. I seriously need to start working and I know my laptop has a tendency of betraying me - AKA - the battery dies randomly.

While I set up my temporary workstation the jukebox plays dreamland in all its fashion.

It even starts with a small trace of background noise, the one everybody who has ever played a vinyl record knows. The not-so-silence before the juice. I love it.

Artix boots up fine, at least.

I leave the lap' syncing whilst I go get the cup, which by the way is comically big and requires a straw to drink from it, unless you want to bathe in steaming black tea.

Bartender delivered to the letter and I'm not even mad. I'm laughing my ass off, actually.

The big sip meme with Tom Holland in it is a pretty accurate depiction of what the whole ordeal looks from a third party perspective.

I kid you not, this might turn up to be my best programming session.

All it takes is a funky laptop, a glorified flowerpot containing a crazy quantity of tea, good music and a relaxed environment.

Where do I sign up for a lifetime of this?

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