So true. SO true. For me it's post-midnight study breaks in the dead of a New England winter... skidding across the pack ice and into an all-night DD with the hum of the flourescent lighting in your ears, the smell of coffee and fried shortening and cleaning agents in your nostrils, garish orange-and-purple Formica all around, and a disheveled roly-poly counter lady with a pink uniform dress and a Baaahstin accent filling large cups to go... 25 below zero outside, warm and secure and happy inside, condensation on the plate glass windows making the taillights in the parking lot streaky and faint... our whole lives in front of us, four hours to sunrise, nothing spoiled yet... I get that back when I have DD coffee. A la recherche du temps perdu, BamaVol. :-: