I was enjoying coffee after breakfast at a roadside stall in the market near my home. This was just an unassuming drink stall. There's little room for decor. The sole proprietor stood next to a hot stove making coffee, tea and chocolate malt beverages that she promptly delivered to her clientele. Mostly, they were people who were done shopping at the market or finished their morning exercise routine. Many were elders out for a morning stroll, making their way there for breakfast.

The practice was to order a drink from this stall and while seated there you also had your meal delivered from any of the surrounding food stalls. Everyone sat on bright red plastic stools arranged around a long table in the shade of tarpaulin sheets overhead. You had to be comfortable seated with strangers coming and going but it was a great opportunity for people-watching.

As I sipped coffee, I listened in on the conversations around the table. It wasn't eavesdropping. People were making quips, contributing to the topic floating around. They were obviously regulars as there was an air of familiarity in the banter going back and forth. The proprietor joined in every now and then as she worked through her orders, pulling up a stool whenever she could.

Much was happening. I learnt that someone's blood sugar level had shot up after an overly satisfying meal of steamed bread with coconut chutney dip. The young man delivering wonton noodle grinned happily when everyone congratulated him on his coming wedding. A lady sitting opposite me received a gentle ribbing for talking too much, allowing her food to go cold. The stall owner grumbled aloud about a passerby who had taken a short-cut through the stall and gotten too close to the hot stoves. Then someone else stopped by to provide an update of an apparent regular who wasn't there on that day. He was in the hospital and unlikely to make it. That bit of news did turn the mood a little somber around the table.

As I drank it all in, the theme song of an American sitcom from the eighties started to play in my head. It goes like this:

Making your way in the world today

Takes everything you've got

Taking a break from all your worries

Sure would help a lot

Wouldn't you like to get away

Sometimes you wanna go

Where everybody knows your name

And they're always glad you came

You want to be where you can see

Our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows your name

Songwriters: Gary Portnoy / Judy Hart (theme song from Cheers)