In all types of life – especially the working one – there are little routines that are a common topic of conversation everyday however they are so small that are forgotten just as quickly, only to be remembered the next day at the same time.
Our common everyday topic is ants. Ants in our kettle. You know, the little tiny black things that live everywhere, inside of the great human device made to boil water so the coffee can be had much quicker every morning.
In another life, being a coffee “purist”, I would have loved to say that boiled water is only for tea however, in this bush life boiled water normally goes with instant coffee “Ricoffy”. I apologise Italian gods!
I drink it everyday, every morning and every time I feel how its sugar sits forever on my hips – as Jan happily reminds me everyday.
This coffee process is Tanya’s routine and mine. Tanya is my African Robin in my new Batman phase. She arrives, drops everything off and with the biggest grin she eyes me and asks:
“Wat se jy? Koffie popi?”
“Ja! Baie dankie”
Afrikaans is a new language to me. Coffee skills were the first ones learned. It’s really all about survival and the elixir of life!
After this daily ritual one of us will then proceed to boil the kettle and make coffee. The part of the process we don’t really understand is why our kettle – and hence our coffee- always comes with ants. We have cleaned, and done everything we can to avoid this part of the process. Batman and Robin cannot understand how 87598456 milions of ants – sometimes in the form of a big ball – end up drowned or boiled in the kettle everyday. Is there an ant sacrificial process to the gods of the sugar we don’t know about?!
We’ve done everything we can to avoid this part of the process. Batman and Robin cannot understand how 87598456 milion of ants – sometimes in the form of a big ball – end up drowned or boiled in the kettle everyday. Is there an ant sacrificial process to the gods of the sugar we don’t know about?!
Until we figure it out, we will carry on having coffee with ants.
How was your coffee this morning? Pretty uneventful huh?
