How to see the future ……

We have a tiny alarm clock, fashioned in Japan, which tinkles at the allotted hour at such a pitch that it can only be heard by local dogs and Mrs. Monkey. I might be falling into the arms of some olive-skinned beauty or wrestling a cream cake in the shape of a giant sausage from the jaws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex but my sleep is usually broken by a dig in the ribs. My motor reflex is to roll over and slap the alarm.

(nefariousfilms.com)

The creature from the Black Lagoon fumbles in the darkness to the bathroom. I shower, shave, sh…….ake my tail feathers and my day begins much like anybody else’s. I head for the kitchen.

I don’t have many vices that I can share in good company but one of them is that I love good coffee.

7.00 am brings my first cherishingly creative act of the day. Ah, the sublime mixture of boiling water and freshly ground beans.  The grinder is set to “medium fine”. Just smell that.

If you love coffee then your own grinder is a must. A world of choice opens up for your own deliciously naughty experimentation. And having done the rounds of the coffee emporia (or is that emporii – emporius – emporium ?) the Monkey House kicks off every day with …………………Cuban Tourquino.

7.10am will see me thumbing my nose at the US embargo and fixing up some prime, aromatic, thick black Cuban coffee. A varietal coffee from the Sierra Maestra Mountains in Cuba. It is delicious, thick and rich with a long aftertaste and gives us the shot that zings and makes us go, “Mmmm, that’s gurrdd.”

I reappear in the Lair to shake Mrs.Monkey awake, wafting rich coffee scents under her nose from her favourite bucket.

If you have never tried Cuban Tourquino or Serrano, Ralphie May has it down right ….