Friday, December 12, 2008

motivation

another day off.

i'm the opposite of a slacker though. because i didn't take much holiday throughout the year, i'm struggling to use up all of my days right before christmas. no vacations or anything, just lots of sleeping in and taking my time.

normally when i have the whole day stretching ahead of me, i freak out because there are just too many choices of things to do. the thought makes me tired and i end up on the couch watching tv or dinking around on the internet. what a waste, eh?

but today. today!

i got myself up and walked to sydenham as i had heard of a few cafe/coffee shops in the area and i was really eager to see if there was a little piece of mpls here for me. (lots of cafes that serve coffee and lots of chain coffee shops, but no straight up coffee shops that you can find everywhere in the cities. i miss it).

the walk was lovely and all sorts of little lovely things have come my way just by making the decision to get out of the house!

the weather is crisp and cold, but i only needed my scarf. the walk was good exercise (for me). i stopped to watch all of the bushy tailed squirrels scramble around. they are everywhere at the moment. i watched a cat on a fence eye up a bunch of pigeons.

i interacted with people. who says people in big cities are too busy to notice and talk with one another? a street cleaner noticed that i was looking a my map, a little confused. he was really helpful and friendly. no teeth, but i guess you don't need teeth to be a decent human being. i'm always a bit freaked out when people don't have teeth. it's 2008 (9 practically people). how can you not have teeth?

i advertised for macs. (where's my commission?) i'm sitting in the middle of the window at the blue mountain cafe, typing away on the laptop. it must be funny for people to walk by and see the little apple symbol in the window. subtle product placement like they do in the movies. this older gentleman walked in, not to get a coffee, but just to ask my opinion about mac computers. he's thinking of getting one to listen to (ah..there he is again, outside, strapping on his panniers to his bike) music. i gave good reviews and suggested the regent's street apple store. the biggest in london. told him to go in and test things out for himself and he'll find that macs are lovely. it was funny. he hadn't heard of the shop. didn't go down to oxford circus or regent street much. how great is that? sydenham isn't that far out of the city (se26 i think). but a lot of people just stick to their little community i guess.

well, i found a little coffee shop. it plays luther vandross, so not quite like (flatcap alert! another old man with a flatcap! everyone should have them) the coffee shops of mpls and stpaul, but a ten minute walk from the house and a tasty mocha isn't horrible.

3 comments:

MeeMa Knows Best said...

I know I'm out of the loop but what might a flatcap be?

Congrats on a fine, fine day out of the house. Twin Cities' coffee shops miss you too!

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Sydenham! 17 mins from London Bridge but much faster by Mac ...

I've put a link to your blog and hope it returns some new visitors:
http://sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2942

treacyphoto said...

Enjoyed this Sydenham post. Blue Mountain is quite good. Sugahill is even better, in my view. I too am a lover of coffee and Macs.

My wife, two sons and I recently moved to Sydenham from Manhattan and we really like it here. She's a psychiatrist and I'm a photojournalist.

Where are you from?

We're walkers too. We've managed thus far to avoid getting a car and use public transport instead or we walk.

I've always got a camera on me and sometimes a camcorder because there's always something to make a picture of.

Are we neighbours? Are you a Sydenham resident?

Best,
Paul Treacy

http://photohumourist.blogspot.com
http://paultreacy.com