Begrudgingly, I walked away from my ten dollar parking spot, which allowed me to adventure around Newcastle, for a grand total of four hours.
I rounded the corner to one of my favourite haunts to write and consume.
At the same time, with MacBook under one arm, shoeless, with my turquoise, felt bag hanging comfortably across my chest, I prayed to the universe/God/earth/everybody & anything, that I would get 'my' seat,
and…
Yes!
Yes, I did!
The importance of seating is of utmost importance to me.
So, I picked the back bench seat, again, not only for the level of comfort it provides.
Certainly not on any cushiony comfort level anyway,
but,
more about the guaranteed 180 degree view, to quietly observe the comings and goings, the gatherings and the conversations to my right.
I liken my ears to unseen peeping Toms.
I have no guilt.
I am sitting relaxedly in my seat today, one foot up on the opposite chair, hair out and a chai latte to my left, ready to write.
Despite the loud, busy chatter, the jangling of keys, the tinkling of cutlery and the non-annoying thrum of cars outside the window, there is a comfortability on a zen level for me here.
I suppose you can find your zen even amidst chaos.
I do have the view of the beach to my right.
So, I am kind of cheating my way to zen.
Okay, interesting shit is happening.
Firstly, I ordered my poached eggs and I received scrambled.
I didn’t mind as I had the thought, ‘I am meant to have them this way for a reason’.
My zen spot is, indeed working.
Sure enough, the chef saunters out and says, ‘You ordered poached, I am so sorry!’.
To which I cheerily replied, ‘No problem at all. In fact, I thought that maybe I was meant to have them this way for some reason’.
She didn’t even bat one eyelid at my weird retort.
So, either she decided to humour me, or genuinely felt guilt at the egg situation, she ordered a large chai latte for me on the house.
Like I said, correct seating arrangement is everything.
Seat leads to zen, zen leads to chai, chai leads to more zen.
Okay, so I am eating and two middle aged ladies arrive to my right, donning exercise wear and ever so slight perspiration on the face. Maybe they don’t take their exercise seriously, or else they had the ocean breeze to cool them down.
Either way, they began to discuss a thesis and simplifying life.
Great! I was onto something.
Hold up!
I look up and notice two young ladies, barely out of their teens, sporting their very sensible clothing, neat pony tail and braids, with one wearing glasses.
Both have their arms around the other, offering support.
Then neat ponytail girl gently tugs on neat braids girl’s jeans.
There you go two unsuspecting young ladies, not fearing retribution from the general public and showing, affection to each other.
A soft, loving kiss is placed by each other on the forehead and the mouthing of ‘I love you’.
and then,
neat braids girl dons her apron
and, starts her shift at this cafe.
I am genuinely impressed.
I am not sure if it is the openness of their gay relationship in the public arena, in the workplace,
or,
maybe, I am impressed at how far society has evolved.
No.
It’s a combination of the two.
The public.
Men, boys, women, girls, older, middle aged and younger, can accept this display of affection from the two neat girls,
without ogling,
without lewd comments,
without raised eyebrows, displayed towards their companions before lowering their faces to their cutlery and plate.
That was worth more than ten dollars.
I rounded the corner to one of my favourite haunts to write and consume.
At the same time, with MacBook under one arm, shoeless, with my turquoise, felt bag hanging comfortably across my chest, I prayed to the universe/God/earth/everybody & anything, that I would get 'my' seat,
and…
Yes!
Yes, I did!
The importance of seating is of utmost importance to me.
So, I picked the back bench seat, again, not only for the level of comfort it provides.
Certainly not on any cushiony comfort level anyway,
but,
more about the guaranteed 180 degree view, to quietly observe the comings and goings, the gatherings and the conversations to my right.
I liken my ears to unseen peeping Toms.
I have no guilt.
I am sitting relaxedly in my seat today, one foot up on the opposite chair, hair out and a chai latte to my left, ready to write.
Despite the loud, busy chatter, the jangling of keys, the tinkling of cutlery and the non-annoying thrum of cars outside the window, there is a comfortability on a zen level for me here.
I suppose you can find your zen even amidst chaos.
I do have the view of the beach to my right.
So, I am kind of cheating my way to zen.
Okay, interesting shit is happening.
Firstly, I ordered my poached eggs and I received scrambled.
I didn’t mind as I had the thought, ‘I am meant to have them this way for a reason’.
My zen spot is, indeed working.
Sure enough, the chef saunters out and says, ‘You ordered poached, I am so sorry!’.
To which I cheerily replied, ‘No problem at all. In fact, I thought that maybe I was meant to have them this way for some reason’.
She didn’t even bat one eyelid at my weird retort.
So, either she decided to humour me, or genuinely felt guilt at the egg situation, she ordered a large chai latte for me on the house.
Like I said, correct seating arrangement is everything.
Seat leads to zen, zen leads to chai, chai leads to more zen.
Okay, so I am eating and two middle aged ladies arrive to my right, donning exercise wear and ever so slight perspiration on the face. Maybe they don’t take their exercise seriously, or else they had the ocean breeze to cool them down.
Either way, they began to discuss a thesis and simplifying life.
Great! I was onto something.
Hold up!
I look up and notice two young ladies, barely out of their teens, sporting their very sensible clothing, neat pony tail and braids, with one wearing glasses.
Both have their arms around the other, offering support.
Then neat ponytail girl gently tugs on neat braids girl’s jeans.
There you go two unsuspecting young ladies, not fearing retribution from the general public and showing, affection to each other.
A soft, loving kiss is placed by each other on the forehead and the mouthing of ‘I love you’.
and then,
neat braids girl dons her apron
and, starts her shift at this cafe.
I am genuinely impressed.
I am not sure if it is the openness of their gay relationship in the public arena, in the workplace,
or,
maybe, I am impressed at how far society has evolved.
No.
It’s a combination of the two.
The public.
Men, boys, women, girls, older, middle aged and younger, can accept this display of affection from the two neat girls,
without ogling,
without lewd comments,
without raised eyebrows, displayed towards their companions before lowering their faces to their cutlery and plate.
That was worth more than ten dollars.
