Even in our little desert community, winter has definitely arrived.
Our recent foggy, snowy mornings have kept us off the trails and sent us scurrying into the coffee shops all along Main Street.
Crowds of seniors gather every winter morning or afternoon, meeting up with friends for a quick chat and a few laughs.
Even this blogger-type senior has occasionally joined the crowd for a little face-to-face time.
Do you have a table at your local cafe where your friends gather, holding a place for you? It is an interesting observation that we are such creatures of habit and seek out the same corner in the same coffee shop like we seek out the same pew in the church.
It kind of reminds me of high school when my friends and I went to the Rex cafe – never the Rainbow Cafe – every Saturday night to drink coke and eat French fries with gravy.
We belonged to a group – a family of peers and different from the Pepsi drinkers across the street.
Walking along Main Street, I made it my mission to check out as many of the hot spots and coffee crowds as possible.
At a popular fast-food stop, the crowd jostled for tables while juggling coffee and a cheap muffin as they gestured with their chin towards the table location that morning.
I made note of the genders circling for a seat and let’s just say the hens and roosters went their separate ways. Oh, there were some tables with couples, but the majority seemed to be celebrating a girls or guys morning out.
Cutting through parking lots and alleys, I pushed open the door of a popular coffee-centered spot.
I had to elbow my way to the line up. The grey heads nodding to each other at table after table indicated this was THE place for locals and snowbirds alike.
Couples, singles and big groups grabbed their ‘double doubles’ and sat at their table of choice. This was a chatty crowd, wasting no time catching up with the latest buzz. There were a few nibblers in the group but most just grabbed a cup of java and marched into the fray.
Thirty minutes later, they were moving towards the parking lot and home. A few dilly dalliers hung back for a serious talk, but most vacated their seats for the next wave of coffee hounds.
I singled out a couple of trendy spots to see if our senior crowd mingled as freely there.
The smell of a fresh brew drew me into one of my favourites. I surveyed the room for my data collection mission. Scattered amongst the tables, women quietly chattered with other women, laughing now and again, maintaining eye contact, definitely focused on their tablemates.
There were more serious conversations and definitely longer ones than I noticed in the other coffee shops. I, too, nursed my cup and chatted with my friendly assistant for over an hour.
I wondered if the price of coffee dictated how much freedom you had to carve out your own piece of real estate in coffee-land.
My research that day was so enjoyable I just might check it out again. I discovered several personas I would very much like to get to know better: the Serious Coffee Hound who is brand-label loyal and never switches shops; the coffee guru who travels between venues, meeting different friends on different days, sipping and tasting and venturing into the world of lattes and cappuccinos occasionally; and, then, the Tea Grannies, seeking out a quiet place to have a chat with a girlfriend, complain a little about Him or It and then, hug before they go their separate ways.
Maybe I will embrace a somewhat split personality – the more the merrier, I think.
EILEEN HOPKINS
Special to the Times
