Miel de Maple

We were 5 or 6 six years old when my best friend, Manuel, had a liking for Froot Loops with Sprite. I mean he poured Sprite in a glass and then, poured Froot Loops into that same glass.

He used to enjoy his snack every time we watched TV or played Nintendo, and everyone believed it was repulsive (as indeed it was).

Now imagine for a moment it didn’t result in something nauseating. Human history is full of serendipitous mixes and happenings that resulted in first-class dishes, scientific breakthroughs or at least, merry stories.

Take mexican “Mole Poblano” for example, an homogenous paste-like composition of chocolate, chili and up to one hundred ingredients. The legend says no one thought it would work and it’s now one of  the most representative dishes of mexican cuisine and one of the most exquisite.

Same thing happened to me with whisky and apple juice on a dark night: I accidentally poured apple juice in my glass and discovered one of my favorite mixes (I know any whisky-geek out there will see it as an obscenity, I don’t give a shit).

…And the list goes on, including but not limited to: Penicillin, the non-newtonian fluid better known as Silly Putty, plastic explosives, wonderful performance improvisations and chocolate chips cookies (miam! miam!).

Unpredictable happy endings and unexpected success are around the corner. See it for yourself the next time you visit a Burger King, mix all the available sodas and discover the ultimate elixir of youth. Just recall “Chance favors the prepared mind” as Pasteur allegedly said.

Something funny happened today: GPS data and location protocols of iPhone’s framework made me revive a love story that worths sharing.

All started today, while I was handling GPS positions and tying them with my new iPhone app. During one of the tests, I started Google Maps application and remembered it’s also capable of displaying 360º photographs of the streets. It’s a Google’s project called Street View.

Procrastination then took me to latitude 43.604363, longitude 1.442951 which happens to be the location of a southern-France city where I made a residence with my first photography teacher.

I spend a virtual tour across some of the streets I remembered, because it’s a city that keeps a lot of valuable experiences for me. I then landed on Avenue Tolosane, the very same place where one of my favorite songs, “Coke, Cigarettes and You” was inspired.

The story happened during summer. I was on that street because I had a date with a girl I really loved. I was going to meet her at a bus stop, but arrived a little earlier. In fact, I didn’t arrived by bus, I actually arrived after walking about 5 or 6 kilometers because my camera’s watch failed and started the journey extra-early (it was 2 or 3 hours forward).

Even after the long walk I was still early, so I went to a bar in the same street to kill some time. I ordered a Coca-Cola (you know how much I love it) and took seat at the bar’s terrace. My cigarettes just were over when I saw her walking down the street (like in that 1964 Orbison’s hit).

We spent a wonderful day and near the end got slept, then waked up at twilight. Just in time for me to catch the bus to the train station, I was leaving the city that same night. We walked to the bus stop (you guessed, over Avenue Tolosane) and waited for the last bus. It was starting to get dark and cold. We hug, I hold her tight and said goodbye. We knew there were good chances we would not see each other again.

After my arrival to Mexico City, I recorded a song during the following weeks, a love song about that day. It has no lyrics but it says something like:

In a place that is new and strange to me, I’ve found someone who makes it familiar.
Someone who doesn’t speak my language but I know how to make smile.
Someone that can tell me with her eyes she really liked that kiss.
Someone I would say: when I’m with you I don’t need anything else…
No wait, we both know that’s a lie, better say:
When I’m with you, I just need Coke, cigarettes, and you…

You can listen the track directly here, in last.fm

weee!