COFFEE BEFORE PLANS

Finding a good café in the morning is very important to me.

When I'm travelling, I like to get out early, before I've really decided what I'm going to do with the day. I want to find somewhere I can sit down, have a coffee, smoke a cigarette and, if I'm lucky, eat something sweet.

That first coffee sets me up.

I'm not particularly interested in finding the most famous café in town. I'd much rather find somewhere that looks like it belongs there.

A few tables outside. An old sign. A slightly battered counter. People who seem to have been coming in for years. Sometimes I'll walk around for a while before choosing somewhere.

People who seem to have been coming here for years.

Sitting outside a cafe in Isle sur la sorgue, Provence.

I'll look through windows, see who's inside and have a look at what they've got on the counter. If there are a few people sitting outside with coffee, that's usually a good sign.

And then there are the pastries. I'm very easily persuaded by a good-looking pastry. I don't always know what it is. If it looks good, that's usually enough of a reason to order it. I can work out what I've just eaten afterwards.

I like sitting outside when I can. Coffee in front of me, cigarette in one hand, pastry somewhere within reach.

Sitting outside a cafe in Provence enjoying my first coffee and cigerette of the day.

I can watch people heading to work, someone opening the shop next door, deliveries arriving, chairs being put outside. The town slowly starting its day.

There's something about that first hour that I really like. You haven't done anything yet, you don't know where you'll end up, what you'll see, or whether you'll spend the afternoon somewhere completely different from where you thought you were going.

For a while, there's no reason to think about any of it.

Just coffee.

And sometimes a second coffee.

I've found some of my favourite places this way. Not because somebody recommended them, or because they appeared on a list of places you must visit, but because I happened to walk past and thought it looked like somewhere I'd like to sit.

That's usually enough for me.

A good coffee, something from the bakery, a cigarette and somewhere to sit.

Then I'm ready to see what happens next.