Time passages

Funny. Just out of nowhere I happened to click on the link to this old post here from about six years ago. It's about a casual trip down to Bloor and my first time at The Bishop and the Belcher pub and the Anglican Bookstore a minute or so up the street from it.

Well, I was back down there again this Sunday, this time meeting up with Kaid. We were supposed to meet at the B&B at 11. When I got there at quarter to, it was closed. Doesn't open till 3 on Sunday. That rings a bell; that's happened to me before, but I keep forgetting. I don't think it was always like that, though, which is what keeps tripping me up.

So, knowing I'd just be a moment and I'd be able to spot Kaid anyway, I took a quick wander up the street to see when the Anglican Bookstore opened. It was a fool's errand, it being Sunday and all, but it was something to do. When I got there, a little printed note taped up in the window said they'd closed for good, January 18, 2013... about a month ago. Thanks for your patronage; see us at our Kitchener location. Kitchener's over an hour west of here. One more little occasional joy that's bled away.

Kaid arrived just after 11 and we made other plans. Just around the corner on Bloor, past the big Anglican church (which, it occurs to me, must be associated with the offices and former bookstore behind it) is Finn McCool's. We were chased there before by the failure to be able to meet up at the B&B for being closed, sometime last summer. We started off on the patio that time but light rain chased us indoors. This being winter, we were indoors from the start this time.

We had a nice time. I'd brought a book for reading while I waited about Eastern Europe, written in the period after the Berlin Wall fell but before the Soviet Union broke up. It sparked a long, interesting discussion. As for the fare, I didn't have anything to drink, though I'm no longer tee-totaling. They have a very nice chicken flatbread there... sauteed onions, red peppers, some strong hard cheese melted over cubed chicken breast. No fries, just the thin slab. It was indeed pleasant. Kaid had a few pints of beer and the Canadian breakfast. I'm not sure what made it specifically Canadian, but so it was called. The lighting is low but not dark. The music was audible but didn't interfere with conversation and seemed geared to guys who reached adulthood circa 1990 but who hadn't signed off against anything new (I picked up a new tune while I was there, matter of fact; You're a Tourist by Death Cab for Cutie). I really like the place, and I remember liking it last time. We decided to make it the new default for meeting midtown. I think I'm going to move my own allegiance from the B&B to Finn McCool's, at least for the time being.