tea-time

freshly-boiled water swirls into the teacup, heating the thin porcelain from the first teaspoon. the water clouds over with tea releasing a faint scent into the air above. on the tray in front, a plate of biscuits await. later, the morning has warmed and the tea is forgotten, left to go stone-cold amidst the busyness…

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Vignette (4)

There's a house-cafe on the street corner. It's incongruously placed in the middle of the city,  where you expect to find tall office buildings and functional apartment blocks - not so much a two-storey house with a front yard and parking space. In front, in the yard is a mini-cart. It's not unlike a street cart,…

Vignette (1)

It's 7:34 and the bus is making good time. My shift starts in an hour, and this little village is just beginning to wake up to the morning slog. You wouldn't expect to find a village-style place in the midst of a city, but it is here. Red light. First one in at least ten…

The Faux Landlords: The Cafe

It's a clear autumn day, the kind where you can sit in a cafe comfortably for several hours and while away the time.  There's a new cafe that's opened up in my neighbourhood, several weeks after construction and renovations began. This wouldn't be unusual, but what is unusual is the incrementally slow progress of the…

The Stranger

He's in the cafe, ordering a latte. It's a very busy cafe, not surprising considering it's nearly eight a.m., and most of the tables are full. My table is the only one with a single person, and the piles of papers I've stacked around the condiments are effective in warding away others who might beg…

The Cafe

I don't have a specific favourite piece of art so I'm going to name one I really like: Cafe Terrace at Night, by van Gogh.And now it's come to life, which means there are people walking through the alleyways and streets at nighttime. It's dark and the sky is full of stars, and the moon…