No cafe for the Gypsies

Yesterday on my way back from work, as often, I wanted to stop at the cafe to have that intermediate passage way between my work day and the unwinding at home. Guess what, the cafe was closed. Dang. I called a friend, who of course wasn't there, and then found myself driving in circles in the cotton candy town of Lo Condo, and discovered that one could drive in circles forever in Lo Condo. It's easy, the town is small, landmarks are easy to spot, and it's that kind of mindless activity that can actually bring you somewhere. (?) So I drove from the cafe, turned the corner in front of the kitchen towel, establishment that serves sandwiches wrapped in dead tree, then passed the pub, that serves mainly the staple diet of American cuisine, that is hamburgers (ask Rigoberto the pew for the recipe) and fish'nchips, asssorted with tap beer, then the caravan store, that sells exotic but deja vu escape artifacts for the inhabitants of the Village! On the waterfront, I finally got it that you can have frybread on weekend days only. But O, that frybread, put honey on it, sit down by the water, and suddenly you forget about the Village! Then accross the street you'll find the bank, post office, public restroooms -a stop that will become vital to the Gypsies when the cafe closes for good-, then the Museum- a respected and respectable institution, also dedicated to the respectable cult of paper money. Then the market, one of the interesting places in town, preceded and followed by tourist trap businesses selling things you don't need at prices almost competing with Christie's. Then The brewery. After that you come to a stop sign (indispensable after the brewery to gather your senses and remember that the cops are never far). If you turn right you are on Morris st, one of the 2 main thouroughfares of Lo Condo, furnished mainly with Art galleries, souvenir and gift shops, bunny stores- I still wonder, by the way, how you can survive -and even prosper- selling pink bunnies, and not selling coffee, a much more vital ingredient to the community-Ah, yeah, another public restroom, where you can relieve yourself of the beer you had at the tavern or the brewery-very important, and so far FREE- , then the thriftstore, soon to be moved to a luxury building that will justify the O rise in prices. No, I'm not being sarcastic. So far, what I saw showed me that gypsies, mariners, pirates and dogs, are gonna be banned from all restaurants, cafes, and even thriftstores. I proceed on Morris to reach the other bank!!! 2 banks in a town like this one, that tells you something. And then, a library -only one- (?!) for which by the way you have to pay something like 20 bucks- free access to culture my foot- and Ah! the gas station. By the way, to my knowledge, that is the only gas station in the county providing full service, like in the good old days. Go, you have an actual human being, saying hello, how are U doing today, what can I do for you, etc... you can tell me it's the usual commercial crap they serve every body, maybe, but it's still better, I'm sorry, than the screen that prints "insert card" then " pin number" then "do you want a receipt?" and that is,when it works. And it provides jobs. Actual jobs, to people who live in town. I'm ready to pay extra for that.
Then you can either head for the roundabout and leave The Village of Lo Condo, or turn right into Maple st, mainly residential, the only landmarks here being 1) the barber shop, Ah! the barber shop! where you can meet the heart of America, and gather gossip. 2)Then the Hedlin's greenhouse, one of the only really useful establishments in this town, that just sells FOOD! remember? FOOD! veggies! organic! (their son also sprouts delicious organic haikus on open no mike days at the cafe). And Janet's artist studio. Then if you go straight you go to the bridge leading to the reservation- but that's another story- and if you turn right, towards the water, you finally arrive.. at the cafe. DanG! still closed!