The Place to be at 0900

FTLComm - Tisdale - Thursday, October 18, 2001

It is the nature of almost every community for people to take time out of the day to enjoy each other's company, make sense of their world and the world around them, and do a kind of reality check on their place in the whole scheme of things. Big cities have communties, so do small towns and in many that gathering place is called "coffee row". The "row" part of that comes from decades ago when restaurants had a counter with stools for their patrons. But now most "coffee rows" are in restaurants and donut shops where ever people are. In Govan "coffee row" used to be in the curling rink where an aging gent presided over the morning's get together. In the tiny village I grew up in it was often around the pot bellied stove in the station with a tin pot of boiled coffee on its top with Cliff Hollaway trying to keep order in his station. But where ever you go, you will find a place, a place of good cheer and friends who make their day better by making this stop for a time each day. I like to go out for breakfast once a week and though I try to make it earlier, I seem to make it to Hannigans between 8:00 and 8:30 and get to see the changing of the guard. Though I only get their once a week the folks around me look the same no matter what day and Garry's coffee is outstanding. The first group are industrial and commerce folks who get their day organised by this morning break and most of them are on their way to work by the time my eggs and bacon arrive. Between 8:20 and 8:40 things are quiet with a few older men huddled around two or three tables and then the place is invaded. The school bus drivers, a really cheery bunch, come in for coffee as their morning run has concluded. There are often a few "married with children" type ladies with their sleeping children and toddlers who take their java together . It isn't until a few minutes after 9:00 that a few seniors begin to settle in, many are regulars who drop in every day often as couples while some just occassionally, but they, like mysel,f get a boost out of being with people in a warm and friendly atmosphere All in all, more than seventy-five people will have spent about half an hour each in Hannigans before lunch. If you want to put some order and commons sense into your life, come on in and have a cup, though the coffee is good, the company is even better.

Timothy W. Shire