The Lost Opportunity

it's embarressing
Originally uploaded by middleagedteacher

I arrived back home in Sydney early Tuesday morning absolutely full of Japanese food. I didn't even see one piece of sushi or sashimi. Instead, it was steaming plates of seafood congee with pickled shallots & perhaps plums; dainty portions of sea bass & a lone sea urchin; prawns sprinkled with fish roe. Actually, some of the tiny delicacies I couldn't really identify, but it didn't stop me shovelling them in & loving it.
But there was one Vital Item that I had been sorely missing for the past two weeks : a decent latte. Ovr the years, I have learned to accept that the US just can't do coffee the way we do coffee, so while I'm there I meekly go to Starbucks or The Coffee Bean & dutifully order a Tall Non-Fat Iced Coffee with No Whipped Cream. I tell myself that it's only for a short time. And it kind of works. Plus, my friend Marge has now got a Cappucino machine which makes all the difference.
So as soon as I got home, it was down to my local cafe - Zinc. The owner, Peter, reminds me of one of those All-knowing Bartenders in films of the forties - always there to listen & not afraid to dispense a little wisdom when required. When I told him that I didn't go into Tokyo during my stopover, he was disgusted, telling me that it was an embarressing that I didn't. He's probably right.
Mr. Middleaged agreed. He thought that I was a real wus. To tell the truth, I was frightened that once I got on the train into the city, that I'd become lost & never get back.