
As the world’s population grows unabated, the next major crisis will surely be water. But to listen to DPaul, you’d think it was ice.
For him, a drink without ice is not only unpalatable but unfathomable. When we prepare for parties, while I fret over whether there’s enough food or booze, he invariably questions whether there’s enough ice. No fan of hot beverages, he only acquired the taste for espresso while on our first trip to Italy, and even then only because there was no ice-cold Coke at the ready when the rest of us would have our morning shot or stop for a little pick-me-up in the afternoon. He’s even been known to slide the occasional cube into a glass of red wine to take the temperature down a skosh.
I have always attributed this to his Southern heritage, imagining him reaching for sweating glasses of sweet tea whilst baking under the Kentuckian sun. In fact, his mother recounts growing up in Kentucky, receiving a chunk of ice from the ice delivery man (as in, for the ice box), and that being the best treat one could hope for.