I decided to ride with Dean to work today. A good time to drive and chat on the way to and from Maryville, MO. I figured Maryville is probably this quaint college town and I should be able to find a cool hotspot to sit and do some work. A little time away to do nothing but whack away on things on the computer would be good… If nothing else, I should be able to find a McD’s with free WiFi. Away we go…
On the way in, we see a sign for a place called The Bookshop Coffeehouse. Sounds just like the place for me! A cool vibey place with college co-eds running around sipping on their frappe’s or whatever they are drinking these days. I drop Dean off and head to the town square where this place is apparently located. On the way t the square I notice something interesting. Lots of bars. Lots. On every corner. Maybe I’ll be in a drinking mood later (HA!), so, I can look past that. I park on the square and decide to walk around a little. There’s the town lumberyard. Fun. I like to browse in old hardware/lumberyard places. There’s several layers of dust on everything. I wonder if anyone buys anything in there. A dude is sitting on a bar stool working on a computer while “Bad Company” plays on the radio. I browse the large (sarcastic tone here) selection and multiple aisles. The good thing at these places is that if their stock hasn’t rotated in 20 years, the prices can often be pretty decent. Unfortunately, when there isn’t much stock period, there’s not much I’m interested in. Out the door.
Off to the coffeeshop. Certainly better things there…
Free WiFi! Cool. No McD’s for me today. At least not yet… I walk in to find not much of a bookstore. It’s really a flea market. With a “coffeeshop” front entry. Simple and certainly-not-cool-in-any-way tables and chairs line one wall and then a few more towards the back. They “tried” by painting the drop ceiling (ugh!) a chocolate brown and the walls a burgandy color, in just the coffee part. The rest of the joint has yellowish walls that are painted, but remind me more of nicotine stain. At least there’s cool lighting (more sarcasm). A grid of 8’ florescent lights cover the ceiling. As much as I hate florescent lights, I have seen and even done cool things with them. “Cool” doesn’t even begin to describe this place in any way.
Didn’t our mothers teach us to not say anything unless we can say something positive? I’m trying to find the positive here. My laptop is connected to their network, but, the internet isn’t working at this point. The college co-eds? A 19 year-old dude dressed in monochromatic brown mans the coffee station. He heated up my scone perfectly. Not sure what music he chose to play out of the 3” computer speakers aimed in different directions. I put in my earbuds and decided to listen to Jars and now Lori McKenna. I’ll choose my own coffeeshop playlist, thank you. And the clientele? I should have figured the college co-eds sleep until noon. I was flanked by a half dozen 70+ people having their morning coffee. I’m sure the lighting is the least of their concerns.
I have become a snob.
Maybe I’ll have a better experience at the bar a little later…
