Letter from Key West, May 24 2020

9.34pm on Sunday evening and my thoughts go to coffee shops and what the future looks like for them.  I sure don't want to sound selfish or self-absorbed, and definitely don't want to sound like I am not aware of, or don't care about all who have been really badly affected by Covid19.  But god damnit I sure do miss my Starbucks.

Not for the coffee!  I can get coffee anywhere.  I miss Starbucks, and independent coffee shops too, for what they provide more than just the coffee. Back when I lived in Dublin there was a wonderful big 24 hour Starbucks on Stephen's Green, just around the corner for me, where you would find me most Sunday evenings savouring the last bit of the Dublin weekend atmosphere while avoiding the temptation of the pub.
And when I spent the month in Chicago at the end of 2018 I spent many a happy time, whiling away an hour or three, in awesome coffee places with my laptop and big mug of caffeine.  My favourite  being The Wormhole.

This photo is of me actually in The Wormhole when I wrote this little retrospective blog post of 2018. Happy days.

Happy days indeed. So what now, in these days of love and covid, and social distancing?  Will hanging around our neighborhood coffee shops be frowned upon and discouraged?  Will people who use them as hotspots for their job have to find an alternative?  Will independent coffee shops make it through at all??

All I know it, it would be a tragically sad day to find myself in Wicker Park, on a cold snowy Chicago day and not be able to enjoy a Koopa-Troopa (iirc!), served up by a friendly barista, with a healthy dose of 80's nostalgia on the side....if you've been to The Wormhole you will know what I mean ;) Hell, come on like, they've got an actual scale size DeLorean DMC 12 in the store!!!!

Stay safe, stay well friends.