This morning, I agreed to meet a Takoma Park buyer at a house we have under contract.  She wanted her handy man to take a look at the place, and we agreed to meet at nine o'clock this morning .

OK, so I overslept.  I woke up at 8:30, the house is 20 minutes from mine, so there was not time to make a proper cup of coffee before I left.

Now I am a pretty tightly-wound type-A.  I need coffee in the morning.  I usually start my day with a strong French roast that I drink black with no sugar. 

But no problemo!  I'd let her into the house and run to the Takoma Park Coop a couple of blocks away to pick up a jolt of caffine, then head back to the house.

Well, Takoma Park is full of old hippies who eschew stimulants like caffine.  Kathy, my buyer, cautioned me that the coffee scene in this little town was pretty bleak.  It was all organic, certified free trade, and mostly the kind that is "naturally low in caffine."  

So what's the point if there's little or no caffine?   Of course, I could always compensate by getting a huge cup.

I got to the Coop, parked my gas guzzling Lexus amid the Priuses in their parking lot and, sure enough, Kathy was right!  There was hot water for tea (all of the selections were herbal), a big pot of decaf, and a smaller pot of organic, certified free-trade and naturally low in caffine.  And they only sold it in small cups.

Takoma Park is known as being a Nuclear-Free Zone.  Today, I learned that it is well on the way to being a Caffine-Free Zone.  And my guess it that it's pretty much of a Tightly-Wound-Type-A-Free Zone as well!  People like me need to head for the District to find a Type-A friendly neighborhood - and there are plenty of them!