A man here in the office was highly amused yesterday at the way I make coffee: take the lid off the jar of instant coffee, dump crystals into “SOMEONE WENT TO LONDON AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY MUG” mug, add water.

“It is the right amount of coffee?” he asked.

“Just over two spoons,” I said.

Because it is. I don’t have to measure anymore. I don need no steenkin spoon. Do something a dozen times a day for over ten years and it acquires a certain automaticism. Precisely like those Zen guys doing archery with those long bows of theirs and baggy pants. I am one with the mug and the crystals.