March coffee in the fog: the function of le café

March seems to whizz by. Days tripping neatly into each other, meetings jostle for space amongst wiped noses, revised texts and daffodils. Nevertheless, the spring is still on standby. Today, it is foggy. Sea mist stretches from ground to sky, we walk through clouds of grey candy floss, granite cotton candy. I drink coffee on a terrace, sip le petit noir, l'expresso, le café. In France, this is the drink that is sampled upon arrival at work, at the start of a meeting and the end of a meal. Le petit noir can be drunk on a terrace with friends but it is never ever ever served with milk ( then it would become un crème, which has a very different function). L'expresso is simple, understated, small and precise. It is a jewel, a drop of liquor, a sweetened full stop.