For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 03, 2024

So that is what pure desperation looks like. She needs a coffee fix, like right now!

Reminds me of Israeli coffee—half the cup is full of grounds. That’s why when I visited there, I always had tea—and boch beer.

“This coffee tastes like mud!”

“Well it was only ground this morning.”

Elly gets up at 5 am and John is in bed. She goes jogging for 20 minutes, hugs a tree for bit, comes back, and finds that John is already dressed, ready to go to work, and drank all the coffee so there is only sludge left. The guy does a lot in just 20 minutes.

It was scraped off the bottom of the Mississippi river.

As they say, black sludge CAN’T BE GROSS, if it is still fresh!

Know that feeling!

I admit that I an a natural poet who likes to write poetry all the time.

When I seen the first line the first thing that popped into my mind was, “See you later … Elly Gator!”

Sounds catchy. I wonder if her real last name wouldn’t be Gator?

It must have been yesterdays coffee. Elly is desperate for a cup, let her have it.

Or you could have drank water, people do bring water bottles when they jog

Work with a lady that prefers to reheat the day old coffee in the microwave before brewing a fresh pot. And this is at 10:00 AM.

When you just can’t wait for a fresh pot to brew …

Maybe she should drink a cup before her run.

Coffee sludge? That’s the best part! High octane!

Elly knows to waste not and want not.

She is trying to survive Trudeauflation.

Ooga Farley!

Booga Farley!

Googa Farley!

Wooga Farley!

This must be Canadian coffee?

You’ll survive, Ellie. But barely.

I’d wait for a fresh pot, but that’s just me.

Since I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my life (spanning over half a century now), I just cannot understand nor appreciate the “need” for a cup of Java.

Let it cook for another hour or two, Voilà: Starbucks!

How fresh is it? I would think John’s description already answered that. It only takes a few minutes to brew a new pot, and in the meantime, shouldn’t you be drinking cold water after a run? The thought of coming in and immediately wanting to drink something hot horrifies me.

My coffee maker has an insulated pot without a heater under it. Coffee stays hot and drinkable until 11 am.

It’s not fresh, but it’s well-behaved.

In college, in the ’60s, I did a lot of after-hours jobs in the engineering office. I just had to heat the coffee pot sludge to keep going. I did the assignments during the day when I was fresh.

John, Elle got up at five in the morning, she’s not in her right mind.

Elly has had to face a lot. She has to deal with the death of Farley. On top of that, Michael no longer goes to school for free. Can you imagine there are still places in Canada where one has to actually pay tuition???

Like it’ll taste any worse than anything else Elly cooks?

The coffee at work was always fresh because of all the people who paid to drink it. The coffee at home seldom was, because only I drank coffee at home. I never liked thermos coffee, so I learned to drink instant at home.

If there’s sludge in the bottom of a coffee pot, imagine your stomach and colon!

Add some sugar and lots of milk, and it’s just fine!

One latte, comin’ up!!

Don’t they call that “espresso”?

I like my coffee dark and bitter just like my first military supervisor…

My Mother made the worst coffee I have ever encountered, like the sludge he’s dumping. In army infantry basic the coffee was much better.

In our house, it’s also referred to as starting fluid or the brown elixer.