See you later, Booknook & Bean

I took a long walk around the city today. A very long walk.

Starting next week, my husband and I will be fully working and our little one learning from home. With the number of COVID-19 cases and the rising death toll around the globe, it will be some time before we can walk freely on these streets again, have drinks with a friend, or people-watch while leisurely sipping a cappuccino.

The world is closing in.  Restaurants and cafes can now only do takeaways. Churches, mosques, and synagogues are no longer allowed to hold services in their places of worship. Gyms, salons, golf courses, and stadiums have closed. Conferences, concerts, and sporting events have been cancelled. What may have been viewed as questionable incursions on civil liberties three months ago, are now norms without question – there are border controls, it is illegal to be congregating in groups, and in several countries, people are forcibly quarantined, required to remain at home.

I chanced upon Booknook & Bean while these dreary thoughts were crossing my mind. I have been meaning to catch up with a girlfriend in this café and I rued putting off seeing her, swamped with meetings and deadlines at work. Of course, who would have thought last New Year when we saw each other, that something this massive, horrifying, and unfathomable will happen to the world?

I ordered coffee and chatted a bit with the barista. He said they were evaluating whether they will still open next week. I wished him the best.

If there is one thing in Australia that I love, it is that we never say goodbye. We do not say adieu. We say: “See you later!”

Booknook & Bean

Topham Mall, 18/52-54 Waymouth Street

Adelaide, South Australia 5000

Phone: 0430 475 006

https://www.facebook.com/booknookandbean