Another classic John Weiss article. Persuasive, and to the point. However, didn't you give up coffee a few blogs ago? And alcohol?

Not that I'm checking, as I'm savouring a strong French coffee right now while reading your blog. However, it did get me thinking about my comment on your blog last week about alcohol. If you remember, my point was that I enjoy a glass of wine for lunch after a hard morning's work on the farm with my colleagues. I really love this moment. In fact, I look forward to it every day and savour it just as much each time. But perhaps, that's the alcohol?

So what if the thing you savour is also bad for you, or addictive forming. I used to smoke (not a lot but a bit) and I used to love getting home from my teaching job and cracking a beer and lighting a Gaulois, sitting on my balcony in Lyon, and gaze out into the city. Nothing was better.

A few years later, I quit, for health reasons, and I lost that moment. I still had a beer, but there was something missing. That special 'something' you can't put your finger on but miss all the same. Something to do with the effects of alcohol and nicotine being much greater than the sum of their parts.

Therefore, perhaps, the things to savour should be pure like music and books. Or simply staring out in to the stars, or sitting quietly in a field. Unaccompanied by anything and certainly no add-ons like fags and booze....or coffee!