George Perec Quote

4. Or else:Rough draft of a letterI think of you, oftensometimes I go back into a cafe, I ist near the door, I order a coffeeI arrange my packet of cigarettes, a box of matches, a writing pad, my felt-pen on the fake marble tableI Spend a long time stirring my cup of coffee with the teasspoon (yet I don't put any sugar in my coffee, I drink it allowing the sugar to melt in my mouth, like the people of North, like the Russians and Poles when they drink tea)I pretend to be precoccupied, to be reflecting, as if I had a decision to makeAt the top and to the right of the sheet of paaper, I inscribe the date, sometimes the place, sometimes the time, I pretend to be writing a letterI write slowly, very slowly, as slowly as I can, I trace, I draw each letter, each accent, I check the punctuation marksI stare attentively at a small notice, the price-list for ice-creams, at a piece of ironwork, a blind, the hexagonal yellow ashtray (in actual fact, it's an equilaterial triangle, in the cutoff corners of which semi-circular dents have been made where cigarettes can be rested)(...)Outside there's a bit of sunlightthe cafe is nearly emptytwo renovatior's men are having a rum at the bar, the owner is dozing behind his till, the waitress is cleaning the coffee machineI am thinking of you