A Sunday Afternoon Not Spent In The Park

This afternoon I had to head out on bike because I needed to buy a father’s day gift. While I had figured out what I wanted to buy some number of weeks ago the opportunity to actually make the purchase had never arisen. As today was father’s day it seemed like today was the day so I went for it.

Prior to my departure I was worried that the might not be open because today was a Sunday. Fortunately the store was in fact open and I was able to make the purchase that I desired which happened to be a CD of harp music. While in the store I noticed that they had a CD of accordion music that I had been thinking about buying. As both CDs were on sale for $2 less than the normal price I went for it and made the double purchase. As both CDs were made by local artists and sold by a locally owned store I was even more encouraged to make the purchase.

Upon completing the transaction I realized that I had taken care of my errands rather quickly and that I wasn’t ready to make the ride up the hill yet. I decided that I would head to a coffee shop and pick up a coffee before heading down to Harbourside Park where I would then drink the coffee.

Shortly after self-consciously ordering a soy latte I noticed that things were proceeding a little differently than normal. The first abnormal occurrence was that the worker poured something from a strange carton in to a mug and placed it in the microwave. After confirming my order she then proceeded to open a new carton of soymilk and begin the steaming process. Once partially steamed she but the soymilk in the microwave with the original liquid. Once the heating process was complete she poured the first liquid into a Styrofoam cup and quickly followed that up by pouring the microwaved soymilk on top. Though this seemed a bit strange I was accepting of her actions and chose not to question what had just transpired.

Upon leaving the store with my drink in hand I took my first sip. My initial reaction was that the beverage tasted nothing like I had expected it to taste. Noticeably absent was even a hint of coffee flavour. I also noticed that the beverage that I had been served was very sweet. Thinking that my first impression must have been wrong I decided to try again. Unfortunately, my second impression was even worse than the first. I was now certain that the beverage contained nothing even approximating coffee but it certainly did contain a pretty large amount of a very sweet substance.

While holding the beverage as I continued to walk in the general direction of the park I tried to figure out my next move. My first thought was to ditch that coffee and try again at another establishment. Upon checking the contents of my pockets I realized that I didn’t have enough money for that plan to work. I quickly decided that I would just ditch the coffee in the next available trash can and head west on Water Street. Once I finally came to a garbage can I was able to put the plan into action.

Once back on the bike riding along Water Street I noticed that there were a fair number of people out and about. What I found particularly strange was that I did not recognize any of them, something that is pretty uncommon in a town this small. Eventually I noticed that the upcoming block appeared to have been closed off and that there were flashing lights. As I didn’t really have much to do I thought that I would go and check it out and maybe take a picture. As I approached the scene I remembered that I had heard that morning that the downtown Big Bite had burned down. The street closure and flashing lights were obviously the remnants of this fire.

Once across the street from the building I could see that the building was quite damaged, particularly the pizza parlour. Several individuals, whom I suspect were investigators, were inside the wreckage poking around. I quickly noticed that I was not the only photographer. It seems that the photographer for the local daily newspaper had arrived on the scene just moments before I had. After we both took a picture or two from approximately the same location he walked forward to get a close look.

As the photographer was walking towards the investigators a woman approached the scene. It soon became clear that this woman lived in the apartments above Big Bite and had not yet heard about the fire. As far as this woman knew she had lost everything. It was a pretty strange feeling to be standing there gawking as she found out that her life had just hit a serious rough patch. Shortly after her appearance one of the police officers on the scene talked to her and was leading her towards the site.

I really wasn’t sure what to do after leaving the scene of the fire. The easy thing to do was to turn around and head back where I came from, so I did. Soon I was at the other end of the harbour. Heading to the Battery seemed like a viable option as I still wasn’t in the mood to head home. After a few minutes of guess work and backtracking I eventually made it to my final destination, the street just before the trail that head up Signal Hill. Upon reaching my destination I turned around and started on my return journey.

Instead of riding through downtown I decided to cut behind the telephone building. After briefly stopping in the Anglican Cemetery to take a few photographs I was back on my way and cruising along Empire Avenue. Soon enough I was back. After the bike was returned to the basement I immediately went to the kitchen and had a pint glass full of water.