By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, the TBE will have gathered for our weekly meeting at the newly opened Expresso Cafe on Maple Street at the former location of The Parkside Cafe, the Parkside Cafe having relocated on North Main Street. Mike Letendre called in, while Laura Bailey, Anna Bedell, newcomer Evan Ruszczyk, Rit Carter, Jack Krampitz and I pulled up a chair in-person.
Our service was wonderful and the food delicious. Along with my two eggs and corned beef hash, I ordered the loaded potatoes—a treat. Before the meeting ended, we all posed for a photo with the owners Jessica Agustin and Miguel Vazquez. It’s a lovely place, and it is located on the opposite side of the building from the Bakery on Maple, which offers a post-breakfast, post-brunch or post-lunch treat.
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As for the week, it flew by. Of course, there was a city council meeting and a follow-up to the ordinance committee meeting, where the original ordinance was rewritten, banning the sale of recreational marijuana, with the support of the two of the three committee members. This is another one of those developments which promises to get more attention in a special city council meeting later in the week, where the full council gets a say in the final decision.
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At home, Mary and I after some very long days—she is knocking doors, I had open house at the high school — we found ourselves plopping down on the couch to view the final episodes of what has become a favorite — “The Durrells in Corfu.”
The show went for four seasons and features the family of authors Lawrence and Gerard Durrell, their two siblings Margo and Leslie, and their mother, Louisa. The dad is not in the picture, having passed from an aneurysm. After his passing, this is pre-World War II, the family relocates from England to Greece, to Corfu, where the cost of living is much more manageable, the amenities much fewer, the characters in abundance. The story is told from the perspective of Gerry, an animal lover and the youngest of the brood, a perspective that infuses the story with some of that childhood magic.
We picked up the action in Season Three because the first two seasons are available solely on Amazon Prime, which we don’t subscribe to. We watch on PBS, via their Passport membership. All in all, we are sad to see the program end. It was a nice way to wind down.
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As for the family, the youngest son celebrated a birthday in Australia, where his gift package found him a day before the event and where he was informed by his partner, Allison, that he would have to wait for his actual birthday to open any presents.
He did, and from what I can tell, he was happy with results. For his birthday, the two did the skywalk at Sydney Tower, the tallest building in the city, and it was awesome but super scary, according to first-hand accounts. We received a photo via text with them in their Skywalk Tower matching outfits.
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Reading/listening this week, is another new podcast. This one is called “Capital Isn’t,” from the University of Chicago, which is a driver in economic circles and very fond of capitalism. That said, this particular episode features Albert Wenger, managing partner at Union Square Ventures, which backs not a few of today’s leading technology companies.
Wenger just published, “The World After Capital,” where he makes the case that capitalism falls short in the digital age, since it cannot efficiently allocate resources. If anything, the podcast is an interesting listen. After the interview with Wenger, the hosts breakdown the interview and provide their takes on what does and what doesn’t work, for them, in Wenger’s argument.
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And of course, we have a big weekend coming, with the Mum Festival kicking off on Friday evening.
Enjoy!
“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org.
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