Festive Cups

My dad had two near-death experiences towards the beginning of this year. He was pretty certain he'd never see his children again, since none of us lives in the same country as him. Being 2020, I couldn't go to him, and he couldn't come to me at the time, thanks to the restrictions brought on by the great pathogen that is SARS-Cov-2. Even if that weren't the case, he couldn't have come here because he was utterly incapacitated, and I wouldn't have made it in time to see him. The immigration procedure would have taken weeks, likely months, under those conditions.

It was nothing short of a miracle that he survived the surgery, so the fact that he's now effectively permanently disabled by it is actually a thing of gratitude from our point of view. He and my mum finally made it to London to see me in late June, and we were able to celebrate his birthday right here at my place. It was quite emotional. About half of his kids, two of us, were able to make it, as well as my sister's children. He gave an emotional speech which I recorded in full for posterity sake. In hindsight I should have put a mic on him to get better audio, but hey.

For the past few months, I'd been driving him to physio and other medical appointments that we paid for privately. Very expensive stuff, but as my dad learnt from his experiences, good health trumps money. It's been money well spent as well, as he's made a remarkable recovery so far. When I picked them up from the airport in June, he could hardly move his limbs. He sat limp in the wheelchair having lost nearly 50% of his bodyweight and most of his strength. When I dropped them off at the airport this time around, he sat upright in his wheelchair and propelled himself until the airport staff took over.

It was hard to say goodbye to my parents over the weekend, but I know deep inside that the amazing west African weather is much better for them, at least until next summer when I intend to put pressure on them to visit me again. Apart from actually seeing each other again, my ulterior motive is to ensure his physio is going well, and he hasn't slacked off. I'd like to see him regain most of his independence again, and this will involve a lot of hard work and encouragement from us.

I could see the emotion in my dad's eyes, in particular, because one is never sure when or if we'd ever see each other again. That's just one of the things I've become used to having lived my entire adult life in different countries from my parents and siblings.

Once they'd gone beyond where I was permitted, through the security and customs section, I stayed back for half an hour as I always do, before heading off home. It's just in case they needed me for anything they forgot. In normal times, I'd do the waiting in a nice airport cafe.

There was only one cafe, Caffè Nero, in the departure section of Heathrow Terminal 5. It was also the first time I'd ever been to the departures section of the airport. I'd been to pick people up at arrivals several times, and there are at least two cafes down there - a smaller Caffè Nero and a Costa Coffee. You can also get coffee from two of the other shops like M&S and another that escapes me right now.

Caffè Nero looked closed but I noticed a lady standing behind a slightly illuminated cash register. Ah, it was the barista looking extremely bored. The airport was quite empty at that time of the evening anyway, and the siting area of the cafe had closed, so they were serving takeaway only.

"Actually I like it like this", she responded when I asked here if she was bored. Yes, I start personal conversations with absolute strangers just like that. She was really friendly so we talked about many things, including the Covid situation and airports cafes, until another customer showed up.

They had several "limited edition" festive drinks but all of them included milk, cream or sugar. I'm a coffee purist and a black coffee only guy. It's not 100% due to taste, I'm also allergic to cows milk, so I try hard to avoid it. Sugar, on the other hand, I'm a big fan of but I don't take it in my coffee. Besides, I don't take sugar with anything. I eat stuff with natural sugar :)

Like many coffee shops, Caffè Nero appears to have gone for the marketing festival look rather than "Christmas" per se. They do feature the Christmas tree, albeit in an abstract manner, and the iconic Christmas red and white hat. The design also features what looks like Christmas lights, but in an ambiguous way in that they could also just be street decoration lights. It's more like a generic winter festival time design.

Not a single word or imagery about Santa, except indirectly by the aforementioned hat, reindeer, mistletoe, chestnuts, open fires or even presents, let alone Jesus or Bethlehem or any of that stuff. Mind you there is a starry sky with one star apparently brighter than the rest. That could be a nod to the "Christmas star" I suppose. Otherwise Caffè Nero's is one totally divorced from tradition.

Masks are enforced inside the terminal unless, apparently and obviously, you're sat at a cafe eating or drinking. Since the cafe sitting area itself was closed I made my way outdoors to the bus terminal to drink the coffee and wait out the remainder of the 30 minutes. There I mingled with people smoking in non-smoking areas in true London fashion.

It's looking like we'll be allowed to roam around the city until after the festive period beyond which is looking like a certain lockdown. I'm quite glad my parents were able to get out to the sunshine and didn't get caught in the imminent lockdown. They need that Vitamin D, a crucial contributor to a good immune system, even more than I do.

I hope you're well where ever you are, and hope you're sipping from a festive cup. 🎄

Peace & Love,

Adé