Java-J's
On Monday the 23, I went to karate with my cousins, whom I was staying with for the duration of the Thanksgiving break. To be entirely honest, I couldn’t give damn about karate. Like times in the past, I just went over to the record store located next door to the dojo. It’s a nice place; the posters, music, cds, records, and the people - all very nice. More or less, I simply enjoy the atmosphere. You don’t see many record stores now days. The woman who is usually there working wasn’t there this time and the manager was working. Shame. I liked the woman. She was nice, helpful, and had a wonderful accent which sounded West Virginian.
After browsing through all of the CDs that I knew I would never buy, I left the store and noticed a horse and carriage going down main street. Odd. Horses on Bristol City’s main street. What could it be but a Christmas parade. People were about in all sorts of attire from Santa clothing to reindeer costumes. I waltzed down the street a little more to see what kinds of stores there were besides the record store. Unfortunately, the only stores were seven jewelry stores, one after the other (and they wonder why our economy is fucked up) so needless to say, I was rather uninterested.
One thing that did manage to catch my attention was a news van parked on the curb with a camera and microphone laid on the ground and the reporter and cameraman standing next to them. The cameraman asked the reporter if she wanted to go out for dinner and she replied with an emotionless no.
Upon reaching the end of the block I turned around. When leaving the dojo, I didn’t think that there was anything to the left, but I was oh so wrong. There was a small café called “Java J’s,” which was a lot like a knock off Star Bucks. I walked inside and was overwhelmed by the smells of coffee, cinnamon, and freshly baked Paninis. I ordered a cup of regular coffee and a freshly baked cinnamon roll and found a single person table in the back of the café positioned near a small stage where a band was setting up. The cinnamon was so strong and good when mixed with the strength of the black coffee. I looked around to take in my surroundings. The walls were and orange-ish color and the ceiling was an olive green. A large clock tower was painted on the wall to my left. All of my worries seemed to melt away in this place.
The last sip of coffee led me to order a fresh Panini with lettuce, swiss cheese, tomatoes, ham and bacon. That was one hell of a good sandwich.