Today, as Alex and I wandered the streets of Aix-En-Provence, we stumbled upon the best, most
delicious, fantastically wonderful drink we have had yet in France. It was
in an international bookstore. In addition to being a bookstore, they advertised
as “THE British Grocer in Provence.”
We walked in, and there were shelves of new and used books mixed with shelves of
(hopefully new, not used) canned food-stuffs from Great Britain. We wandered into the
adjoining room and Alex stopped. She gasped. She shouted “Yes!” I whirled my
head around to see what she was pointing at. There it was, in a giant,
glass-door refrigerator. On the third shelf. In neat little rows. Glowing, no,
pulsating with deliciousness. It was… a shelf of Dr Peppers.
I know. My thoughts exactly. The Dr Pepper gods heard my
call for help and answered it with a hearty “we’re a Pepper too.”
It had been over a month since the sweet, sugary goodness of
an ice cold Dr Pepper had touched my lips. Even this morning I was receiving
taunting e-mails from my own father about how delicious Dr Pepper was… but
today that all changed. We bought a half-liter bottle, me resisting my urge to
clear out the shelf, and had a baguette et Dr Pepper lunch on the main street. It
was fannnnnntastic. Different, but the same. They bottle these in Prague, Czech
Republic. Strange, huh? And when I tasted it
I knew instantly (as many of we Dr Pepper Connoisseurs can do) that it was made
with sugar and not corn syrup. It was not, however, completely like a Dublin Dr
Pepper either. It was its own being. Europe’s “chips”
to our “French fries.” Their “flavour, colour, centre” to our “flavor, color,
center.” It was different, but its soul…
its essence… was the same.
Renewed, I feel like I am now able to take on another month
cold turkey (although I do plan on perhaps… stopping by in the next few days to
get a refill). But I know now I can do it. And so help me, if I can’t find “THE
British Grocer in Kathmandu…” then I will just keep on keepin' on. Because I know somewhere, around the corner, is a
bookstore selling Dr Peppers.
-Andrew
