The title is a Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy joke, but also, I know I’ve slacked a bit in the last week. With the work going on at the house, being slammed a work a bit, and running errands, I haven’t really had time to post. Making an effort today, though.
Anyway, the work on the house is done, for all intents and purposes. Still some light fixtures to reinstall, but generally, I am pleased. It’ll be nice to come home and not have to wonder where the worker bees put my stuff when they were rearranging my basement to make space for their tools or lumber, but I can’t really complain.
What I can complain about, though, is the utter craptastic quality of Second Cup coffee. I mean, I know it’s bad. This is not a shock to me. Every once in a while I realize just how bad, though. Especially their bean offerings. I suppose that at one point, the beans were fresh and probably decent. I found myself without a decent espresso roast a few weeks ago and picked up a bag of their espresso blend, just to see. I swear, pulling a tight shot with that stuff is just not going to happen. I can clamp the grind setting way down and tamp well past the SCAA recommendation and still get something that looks like watery coffee. No crema, no caramel colour, nothing. Better to go without, than to be disappointed. I think that’s true for a lot of things. Thankfully, my batch of 49th is here, and thoughts of a deep caramel shot with aromatic hints of hazelnut and chocolate is really pulling me through the work day.
Thinking of travelling again. Part of me really wants to head to Sweden in June, to Sölvesborg. There is a metal festival (Opeth is playing, that’s worth the trip right there), and I’d really like to visit a Scandinavian country in the summer. If there was a part of the world that I’d want to live in, that’d be it. Yeah, it’s cold in the winter. So is Atlantic Canada. I think their summer weather would be most excellent, though, and basing yourself there would open up a wealth of travel opportunities in the rest of Europe.
Today’s track is Avantasia’s “Sign of the Cross“. It’s difficult to listen to the song out of context, since it’s part of a rock opera, but the chorus is pretty damn awesome. My link is to a live version of the song, in São Paulo, Brazil. It’s cool for several reasons — the crowd really gets into it, they know the lyrics, the fact that it it’s live proves that the vocalist really can sing, and the security guys in front of the stage are dressed in suits and ties. So cool.
A dream is forever.
The land of salvation can’t drown.
These enchanting colours -
who could have the might to tear it down?
(all these colours – fantasy…)
