Thoughts on what I missed

Nothing huge here. I've lived where I do now for going on four years. That's hard to believe. Seems like just yesterday Bonnie died, but that's getting on for two years ago. Both anniversaries are pretty much cheek and jowl. The march of time.

There's a plaza on my street that I can see from my window. It's about a six minute walk. I do nearly all my grocery shopping there, and I get most of the stuff I need from the drug store at the same little plaza. It's been there since around 1960, I suppose, with a handful of other little stores that have come and gone (mostly gone since those areas are currently under redevelopment).

One of the places in the plaza between the drug store and the supermarket is the Parkwoods Restaurant & Tavern...

I was never in this place. It closed pretty much the very month I took possession of my place, just down the street. The sheriff's notice is still there in the door, four years later. I've walked past this place dozens, maybe hundreds of times now, and the longer it sits inexplicably empty, the more I wonder what I missed, and what I might now have if it hadn't gone under. It's the only such place within an easy walk of my home. What kind of place was it? Was it the kind of quiet, neighbourly place where I could have whiled away Sunday mornings with my laptop and headphones as big snowflakes drifted down outside, stretching it out to a sudsy afternoon where my friends would join me for lunch? Or was it the sort of place where guys with slogan hats whose every third word is an expletive shot frustrated, angry pool and forced their musical tastes on the universe within earshot? Well, I'll never know. I wish at least I'd had the chance to find out.

But I really don't understand why nobody's taken up the slack and moved into the space. The plaza does a lot of business and, till recently, floated about two dozen little places like this till redevelopment put them on their bikes. Why isn't there some other little enticing pub in this spot by now? I'm not looking for Cheers, exactly. But surely a place I can walk to and comfortably amuse myself and relax while someone else tops up the coffee and brings around a pitcher or two isn't asking all that much.

Addendum: Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. I did a little looking around and found out that the Parkwoods Restaurant & Tavern started business in 2003. I don't know what was there before. So I guess they were in business for seven or eight years. Wish I'd been around for at least some of it.