Predictable Coffee
We were strolling through the village of Saanichton on Vancouver Island.
A light rain began to fall, quickly gathering strength. We needed somewhere to take shelter, wait out the bad weather, and recharge before continuing our walk.
A small local café at a street corner seemed like the best option.
The coffee selection was respectable, but we decided not to take any chances and ordered drip coffee—the familiar, dependable choice for us here in Canada.
Nothing remarkable. And that was exactly what made it right.
In places like this, you appreciate predictability more than surprise.
These days, cafés across Vancouver Island increasingly follow the same routine: when you enter, you line up at the counter, choose your coffee, pay for it, receive an insistent prompt from the payment terminal to add a tip of anywhere from 18 to 35 percent, wait at the pickup counter, and only then enter the seating area to look for an available table.
There may not be one, by the way.
By the time we started looking for somewhere to sit, every table in the café was already occupied. The only place left was a small booth for two with a sign that read:
“Booths are reserved for 2 or more persons. Unless no other seating is available.”
No other seating was available, so without the slightest embarrassment, we claimed the booth on entirely legitimate grounds.
Around us sat the café’s elderly local regulars. They had already settled into their usual morning places and were calmly discussing town news, local people, and probably all the same things that have been discussed in small communities for decades.
At some point, they apparently ran out of things to talk about. The elderly patrons rose almost in unison and quickly headed home.
Their places were immediately taken over by noisy, excited children eagerly anticipating sweet desserts, and the entire tone of the café changed at once.
The gentle morning murmur turned into lively buzzing and high-pitched chirping.
The place itself had not changed, but it now belonged to people of another generation.
We finished our predictable coffee and stepped back outside into the light drizzle to continue exploring the local sights of Saanichton.
Author: Gleb Ivlev / G Un