Monday, October 11

Sometimes you can walk into the strangest situations.

As we walk through Itis on our way to pre-buy some cinema tickets to expand our cultural horizons I see an unexpected box sitting in the middle of the floor of the mall. We wander over to see what we see.

A group of men are gathered round looking at the boxand talking and laughing. On the other side of the box a group of three women sitting looking at it with blank expressions. The box itself contains a retro fifties robot offering to sell coffee or ice cream to anyone willing to pay. Its eyes blink disconcertingly and it gesticulates with its arms.

Irma orders a coffee and time passes as the robotic arm slowly assembles it. The men bring out their phones and video it. The oldest of the women leaps up and starts looking. Conversations in three or four languages spring to life.

After an unfeasibly long time Irma will get her cup of coffee to applause and everyone will wander off in different directions. The coffee will prove very bland and very milky.

Wanted: someone to fine-tune a robot coffee maker in Itis.