I always get a free coffee when I go to my local Pret a Manger. Always. Apparently (and I find this hard to believe) I make all the girls smile gleefully upon stepping into the store. Ti's how I walk? Ti's how I dress? Ti's how I talk? Perhaps it is the constant quizzical look I have plastered to my face - a look that betrays my innermost thoughts - a look that says: "I have not a clue what this life is - but I'm still gonna get myself a coffee". A look like that of a child that has been given the keys to life. The look of a man who has an Oyster Card for the world.
"Why, then, the world's mine oyster, Which I with sword will open..."
(William Shakespeare)
Who knows. What I do know is that...yes, I always get a free coffee when I go to Pret.
"This man deserves a free coffee" they say. And sometimes I feel as if they are poking fun at me. Do I look like I need a free coffee? Do I? What does a man who needs a free coffee look like? Certainly not like I. But then what do I know? All I know is that the girls working in Pret (and yes, it is always the girls) feel like giving me a free coffee. It is one of the pleasures of this life. To be given something for nothing. To be given a free coffee now and again - simply because, somebody likes the way, you smile.
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There is a beautiful couplet by Omar Khayyum and it goes thus:
'AWAKE! For morning in the bowl of
night
Has flung the stone that puts the stars to
flight
And Lo! The hunter in the east has
caught
The Sultan's turret in the noose of
light'
Repeat every morning upon waking. Any filmy residue will at once vanish from your eyes.
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