Friday, August 13, 2004
I feel lost without my coffee shop
I made my way to Just Desserts to meet up with Rawl last night, and when I arrived, I noticed the place was closed. Okay, well, maybe something had come up that required them to close, right? It's a small operation, and I could family funerals necessitating a closure for an evening. However, then I noticed a sign on the door, and I knew what it was going to say before I read it. Simply put, Just Desserts has closed up shop.
Calling Rawl on his cell phone, I asked, "Hey, man, are you sitting down?"
"Well, I'm driving," he said.
"Oh, okay. Well, you might want to pull over. I have some really bad news," I said. I paused and then decided to just drop it. "Just Desserts has closed down ... permanently."
Rawl had just been there two nights before, and he said nothing had seemed out of place. For whatever reason, though, the place was gone two days later. Both of would like to know what happened.
However, more importantly, we now need a new coffee shop to hang out in. We discussed this over a pint of beer at the nearby King Richard's, where we both decided we didn't want to become King Dick's barflies again (mainly because it's too damned expensive). Unfortunately, Just Desserts will be hard to replace. It had a good atmosphere, friendly owners, excellent service (not to mention table service) and a high level of tolerance for us (we were regulars, after all). Starbucks, Second Cup and the like just aren't going to cut it, but we may not have much of a choice but to switch over to one of those coffee shops. We don't have a lot of options. To prove how few options there are, we even discussed just doing the coffee/tea thing at my place from now on and forget about going out.
One other little thing to add, which doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of this post. The townhouse Jacquie and I bought is on a crescent, and because of that, it's a neighbourhood filled with children. We're not parents, nor do we intend to become them, and I'll say that most of the kids on the street are pretty good when playing on the road (as in, they get out of the way of cars). However, there are two kids on the street (I think they're brothers, and they're both fairly young -- one has training wheels on his bike, after all) that just seem to be oblivious to the fact that roads are for cars and it's the cars, not the kids, that have the right of way.
Last night, on my way out to meet up with Rawl, these two kids were in the middle of the road a few from the stop sign where I had to go to get out of the crescent. One of them moved, but the younger one -- the one with frickin' training wheels and no parental supervisor! -- just sat there on his bike staring at me like he couldn't figure out what was going on. To make matters worse, the other kid started making the motion to say that I should go around him. I shouted to tell them to get off the road, but I don't think they heard me. Either that or they just didn't give a shit.
A nice bit of parenting, eh? Unfortunately, I believe these kids live right across the street from me. I'm not sure how to handle this, but I might have no choice but to start voicing my complaints to their parents and then hope it doesn't turn into a big fight.
Fun stuff.
Calling Rawl on his cell phone, I asked, "Hey, man, are you sitting down?"
"Well, I'm driving," he said.
"Oh, okay. Well, you might want to pull over. I have some really bad news," I said. I paused and then decided to just drop it. "Just Desserts has closed down ... permanently."
Rawl had just been there two nights before, and he said nothing had seemed out of place. For whatever reason, though, the place was gone two days later. Both of would like to know what happened.
However, more importantly, we now need a new coffee shop to hang out in. We discussed this over a pint of beer at the nearby King Richard's, where we both decided we didn't want to become King Dick's barflies again (mainly because it's too damned expensive). Unfortunately, Just Desserts will be hard to replace. It had a good atmosphere, friendly owners, excellent service (not to mention table service) and a high level of tolerance for us (we were regulars, after all). Starbucks, Second Cup and the like just aren't going to cut it, but we may not have much of a choice but to switch over to one of those coffee shops. We don't have a lot of options. To prove how few options there are, we even discussed just doing the coffee/tea thing at my place from now on and forget about going out.
One other little thing to add, which doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of this post. The townhouse Jacquie and I bought is on a crescent, and because of that, it's a neighbourhood filled with children. We're not parents, nor do we intend to become them, and I'll say that most of the kids on the street are pretty good when playing on the road (as in, they get out of the way of cars). However, there are two kids on the street (I think they're brothers, and they're both fairly young -- one has training wheels on his bike, after all) that just seem to be oblivious to the fact that roads are for cars and it's the cars, not the kids, that have the right of way.
Last night, on my way out to meet up with Rawl, these two kids were in the middle of the road a few from the stop sign where I had to go to get out of the crescent. One of them moved, but the younger one -- the one with frickin' training wheels and no parental supervisor! -- just sat there on his bike staring at me like he couldn't figure out what was going on. To make matters worse, the other kid started making the motion to say that I should go around him. I shouted to tell them to get off the road, but I don't think they heard me. Either that or they just didn't give a shit.
A nice bit of parenting, eh? Unfortunately, I believe these kids live right across the street from me. I'm not sure how to handle this, but I might have no choice but to start voicing my complaints to their parents and then hope it doesn't turn into a big fight.
Fun stuff.
// posted by Chris @ 9:33 AM 
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