The Gentrification Of A Cup Of Coffee

Here I am, awakened during a dream in the wee hours. I dreamt my late father came into the kitchen and solemnly informed my mother that a cup of coffee was a multiple of his hourly pay and he would have to skip it… Effectively, that’s happening as wealthy people pay many dollars for cups of coffee without a thought for how the poorer folk get by. Getting by is not a concept when one buys $60K pickups to drive empty in city traffic or pays half a $million for an ordinary home that used to provide for a family of 5 to 20 children and now is occupied by 2.5 people.

Even though I am much better off financially than my father, “getting by” is still a part of my psyche. I want to drive an Electra Meccanica Solo EV, not because it’s luxurious but because it’s economical. Why drive around with an empty vehicle? Why drag tons of matter up and down hills or roll it along on the flats? Why push twice as much air out of the way as necessary to get from A to B? Why infect the world with the stench of wasted energy when a few cents will drive you for miles? Solo is just the right way to travel if walking or public transit won’t do the job.

Solo, however, is being gentrified too. No, the price has not spiked, but the features have. The prototype had no battery-management to speak of. The current model has A/C, battery heating and cooling and power this that and the other (although no cruise-control). There’s hardly any room left for a “front trunk”. Solo’s still not widely available in Canada. Only the lucky few in BC can buy one. I’ve tried but until it’s certified generally in Canada, I can’t have one. In a way, it’s gentrified. I really can’t afford to move to BC to have a chance, not a certainty, of owning one. BC is just too expensive for my tastes. Ordinary homes are pushing $1million. Land is in short supply. Mountains and floods and cougars are falling on people all over BC.

So, I am living the nightmare my father avoided by dying although it’s not about coffee. I’ll carry on planting trees to enjoy the good life a bit longer. The poor oak seedling that had their leaves and stems frozen and damaged by high winds are putting out new leaves this week. There’s still hope the chokecherries will survive. The sour cherries are doing just fine with multiples showing up as suckers which I’m propagating. The marigolds are taking over my pots if not my yard. We finally had a decent rainfall to make my yard a comfortable place to live. The tree swallows are getting their offspring to eat bugs. I can’t get my grandchildren to chew vegetables.

About Robert Pogson

This entry was posted in family, food, horticulture, technology, weather and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.