Why We Write in Coffee Shops

I don’t even drink coffee. Well, perhaps I drink the occasional decaf latte, but that doesn’t count. Without lots of milk and sugar, I don’t even like the taste. However, I am seriously thinking about moving my “office” up the street and around the corner to our neighborhood WiFi hotspot with hot beverages and peach muffins. In other words, this place. “Why”, you ask. Let me tell you.

This week was supposed to be the great restart of work on the book. After close to two months of holiday excuses, I was ready to devote a minimum of six hours a day to writing. But then I had to do some laundry, and the house was a mess, and the dog needed walking, the contractor needed calling, and then this… the basement needed demolition.

We live in a seventy something year old house with issues. We love the location since we can walk to shops, restaurants and even a movie theater. And mostly we love the house. It has character. However, it also has a leaky basement, and we need the space. So, the contractor is coming tomorrow to look at the foundation, and we have learned from experience that they aren’t satisfied with seeing the problem from the outside. They need to see it from the inside.

Unfortunately many moons ago a previous owner did a poor handyman’s job of “finishing” the basement. In an effort to make it a bit less gloomy, without spending any real money, we then painted the dark paneling and buffed it up a bit. Finally, mother nature had her way with us and dumped about four feet of water down there.

So, like I said, the contractor is coming tomorrow and he needs to see the problem from the inside. Well aright then. Guess we have another excuse not to write and the need for a trip to the hardware store for one of these.

After donning the respirator, eye protection and my spiffy never used before work apron, I picked up a pry bar and had at it. I’m sorry to say I didn’t burn many calories. The cheap paneling came away from the walls like dried out french toast (or maybe melba toast).

And what did I find? Fortunately, there wasn’t any slime involved, just lots of nasty matted insulation. And what’s this? Is that daylight I see? Yes, those spots that looked like small cracks from the outside are actually gaps in the brick large enough for well fattened squirrels to climb through. Kind of makes me want to nail boards over the cellar door before we go to bed tonight.

But the good news is that it only took a couple of hours. Now I can spend the afternoon writing. And what’s the other good news? The contractor is coming tomorrow and I have another excuse.