Irony

                             

“Bean Around the World” coffee shop was founded in 1990. Our local franchise, under the excellent tutelage of Marie Scott and her openhearted friendly young baristas, is situated here in North Vancouver. This particular branch has just celebrated its 5^th birthday. It is located opposite a restaurant, a day care, a MacDonalds and a sushi restaurant.  In the mornings Pemberton Street  is a bit of a race track as drivers celebrate their freedom from the congestion of main arteries to accelerate noisily. ‘Bean’ has a small outside area. A wooden L shaped bench with a floral border as a back. Above it is a waterproof canvas covering. A couple of umbrellas with two tables and several plastic chairs also adorn its narrow frontage. Under an overhang from the block of apartments above are a couple of whickerish chairs. There are also a few potted trees and other chairs on the main street.  To me and my friends the only fly in the ambience is the early morning traffic.

I arrive at ‘Bean’ promptly at 7.00 a.m. on the dot of opening. Since Covid times there has been limited seating available inside so I claim my position on the bench, mask myself and order my coffee and settle outside under the awning and await my friends. I reach for my daily crossword and begin to play with anagrams and the other devious devices of the cryptologist who has set it.

So, Dear Reader, when the second wave hit last fall, like the rest of you we were restricted. So our social group sat outside as the trees in the car park opposite lost their leaves, as the rains came and the temperature dropped. nobody was now allowed to sit inside. The days became shorter. I had to buy myself a head torch to read the clues. November morphed into December. The longest night here in the Northern Hemisphere approached on December 21^st.  At some point I rummaged through my drawers and found my thermal underwear; from the winter stock out came the woolly bonnet and gloves. Under the sink in the kitchen I found three hot water bottles. I decided to boil some water and take them with me for any of my friends who may wish them.

So, every week day, through the weary winter weather, the dark chill, wet, sometimes breezy mornings, there were figures wrapped in bundles of layers, from a distance piles of laundry waiting to be claimed, Only occasional movement revealed the persons within. Gradually through January and February the days crept longer, grey cloudy mornings promising earlier glimpses of the sun. Some of us checked on our devices, noting with pleasure the inching forward of daylight 7.03 a.m. to 7.07 a.m., ever longer the daylight, ever closer winter’s end. The weather, however, was always fickle. Sometimes we thought we had seen the last of the winter clothing only to have a drop in temperature on the following day. But, Dear Reader, Spring was coming. Spring came but like all Springs, it is a fickle seductress. It leads us into a summer day on the Tuesday and on the Wednesday send us back to Winter. The hot water bottles were still being filled, were still being clutched.

May came and went,  June entered. Some days were still chill but the heat was coming. Finally this week, the summer has arrived. It is a summer like few others. The temperature has soared to record heights. 40 degrees Celsius is threatened. It sits here, on June 28^th, in the high thirties.

So we who spent the winter months sitting outside in the cold have seen a loosening of the rules for gatherings. Now we are allowed to sit inside again. Perspex barriers are up. We still have to wear our masks when we purchase our coffees but when we sit to enjoy them we are allowed to sit indoors at last. But, Dear Reader, now that summer has come the last thing that we want to do is spend our social time indoors. We have weathered the winter outside with fortitude and grim determination. It is time for us to enjoy the alfresco benefits of the seasonal warmth. Ah but, Dear Reader, we are not able to do so. The weather now is so dangerously burdensome that we are now sitting inside! I kid you not. We, who have longed and yearned for the sun of summer, are finally beaten. Strange as it may seem, Dear Friends, after all that we have sat through, we now sit in the cool, low temperature of the inside corner of the ‘Bean’ almost nostalgic for the halcyon days of winter.

The dictionary definition of ‘irony’ is:-

“A state of affairs that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result”.  Oxford languages

I cannot promise that you will find this little tale amusing, Friends, but I think that you will agree it does at least fit the first part of the definition. How I wish that I had this real life example at hand when I was still in the swim of teaching.

Happy 5th Birthday, “Bean Around the World’. Thank you so much for managing this difficult time so well and always with a smile on your faces.