“I’ll have what she’s having”

Speaking with friends who like me have been suffering the heat this summer, it appears that as one gets older (not that anyone wants to admit it) but the extreme temperature changes, whether they be cold or hot, affect us more now than when we were young. I don’t like to be in air conditioning continually that makes me feel half frozen like a popsicle in an ice box, yet being without air conditioning in this heat can sap energy leaving one lethargic.  At a café I saw a lady thoroughly enjoying a cold beverage, and telling the waiter, as if I was in the well-known film ‘When Harry met Sally’, the famous line: “Waiter, I’ll have what she’s having”, came to mind. I received a laté coffee, similar to a milk shake but with lots of ice, which on a sweltering hot day, was cooling and easy to swallow. Served in a paper cup with plastic lid, drinking through the straw meant no spillage, despite shaky hands. A perfect Parkinson’s beverage! Some months ago we were in an Italian restaurant, and we tucked in to the delicious specialities of the house. A couple sitting at the next table, watching how we were enjoying our meal with great gusto, pointed to us and told the waiter they’d have the same thing! I guess a picture is worth a thousand words, and speaks so much better than the tempting words on a menu.