Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Hilltop

I remember how weekends used to go. I'm looking at the guy in the rear table on the left. He looks to be in his early thirties with a stack of papers, a coffee and a red pen. That used to be me on weekends. My routine was to hold off until Sunday though. I didn't care much for correcting essays and tests 'on the road'. In a comfortable chair in the family room or upstairs in my office were my favorite work spaces at home. A coffee, a couple of correcting pens and some soft classical music playing were my friends. If I was tucked away upstairs for a couple of hours, I often would sneak a bowl or two of Captain Black pipe tobacco. These days that certainly would be a no-no here at this  hilltop coffee shop. For that matter, my pipe has been displaced for good anyway. 
I do miss the 'captain'.
I blame it all on my grandfather, Albert.
The swirling puffs of his aromatic Prince Albert had me under a spell.
Occasionally a student would complain about a small coffee stain on a paper.
But no one ever came forth and declared, "Mr. N-, smell my paper. What is it?"
Hahaha!
I miss my pipe, not the stack of papers though.

12 comments:

  1. Just like Bob Cratchit at his clerk's desk. :-)

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  2. When I was very young, my grandfather lived with us. He had an apartment upstairs while my family lived downstairs. Grandpa used to smoke a pipe and I was always drawn to that pipe smoke smell. I'm not sure why it's so different than cigarettes or cigars but it is; more gentle somehow.

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  3. I miss my pipe and my tobacco mixtures. I also liked Captain Black and still have a sealed bag somewhere, almost twenty year old...

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  4. to look back now with fond memories... :)

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  5. It's been awhile, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Even to the pipe. I finally gave up my pipe for good but miss it every day and if there were any chance it would not give me cancer I'd be happily blowin' smoke just about everywhere it was legal!

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  6. I have a lot of respect for teachers. I can totally understand not missing the marking part of your job!

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  7. A pipe with good tobacco smells wonderful!

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  8. I guess I traded grading others' papers to revising and revising and revising my own. xx

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  9. I still have my grandfather's pipes, though I don't smoke. The scent of his tobacco still lingers on them years after he's been gone.

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