Coffee and morale ... enough said!

Casey Stations' hardest working machine

Napoleon Bonaparte is often credited with the quote, “An Army marches on its stomach.” With that, he acknowledged that food is one of the most essential elements to survival.

Nowadays, the coffee machine at Casey station is part of that same survival element, it is used on a daily basis by most of the station. If it ever breaks down there is an almost instant collapse of morale. If maintenance work is to be carried out on it, notices need to be posted days in advance so people are aware there will be no coffee. The coffee grinder wars go on, where people will adjust the grinder to get the preferred coarse or fine grind.

The station is unable to function without its morning coffee.

Over the course of this season the coffee machine has had a few stories to tell. When we first arrived with a full summer cohort, it was struggling to keep up with the demand. After a lot of breakdowns, the plumbers and electricians got together and changed out some components and it held up for some time. It finally gave up the ghost part way into winter and the plumbers swapped it out for a new one. The new one has been working well since.

With the current kitchen refurbishment, the coffee machine and the whole breakfast area has been shuffled around while walls are painted and new power points installed. This area will be streamlined to make better use of the space and the coffee machine’s new home will be closer to the window. Who knows how long it will be before it moves again, but for now with new pipework and drainage it should be there for a while.

And so, each morning the Casey cohort keep marching straight to the coffee machine for that morning pick-me-up and the sweet nutty smell of freshly ground coffee.

Billy Merrick

Casey Plumber

A lady is leaning over a stainless steel bench and smiling at the camera with a coffee placed on the bench in front of her. There is shelving above containing various cereals.
Two cups filled with coffee sit on a stainless steel bench. The camera is looking down into the coffees and the name Billy is written in one cup with milk foam.
A man in bright orange hi-vis workwear is standing with his back to the camera and making a coffee at a large coffee machine. There are rows of shelves behind him with various cereals.
A large stainless steel coffee machine on a long table fills the right of the photo. To the left are two men in workwear, reclining against the table and an adjacent bench. They are smiling at the camera and enjoying a coffee.
A cup of coffee with a picture of a house drawn in white milk foam on the top of it.
A large coffee machine sits on a stainless steel cupboard to the left of the picture. To the right of the picture is a drinking water fountain. In between the objects is some exposed pipework that runs along the wall at floor level.
Four men in bright orange hi-vis are smiling at the camera, two on each side of the photo. In the centre of the photo is a large coffee machine, with a shelf above it containing various condiments.
To the left of the photo is a large fridge, sited against the wall. In front of the fridge is a coffee machine that is also against the wall. There are various tools on the floor, and work is in progress on some exposed plumbing that protrudes from the floor.
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