For some reason I can’t explain
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
Hello from a coffee shop / grocery / pub / deli / sandwich shop / bakery in Plymouth New Hampshire. My little just finished his baseball game in the New Hampshire high school semi-finals and he has plans tonight so I won’t be doing anything with him like usual but they won the game so I’ll be going to the state championships to cheer him on. I’m thrilled.
Coldplay has some good coffee shop songs but not good pub songs. Luckily, I’m sitting in the coffee shop side of the store and can hear the death metal 40 feet away that erupts from a jukebox in the pub part of this store. I’m not sure who had this idea to rent a large space and put so many things in it but I think it’s genius. Coffee can fuel my writing and the whiskey will then keep me warm once my fingers get cold.
It was a rainy game day. The rain never let up and neither did the heart of those players. They owned the field today with a final score being 10-4. After a week of 80+ degree days, today was 55, rainy and a heavy breeze wisped across the field. It was a hell of a day to be at a baseball game. After congratulation Matt, I headed to a coffee shop to write but also to warm up. It’s 2PM on a Saturday and my house is also covered in rain clouds right now. Why just go home? I looked at my TomTom and observed a few different options. I can be in Boston in 2 hours or Portland Maine or maybe south to Concord. I’m on a budget so I couldn’t buy anything and I’d use a tank of gas to go there and back to any of those destinations. Staying the night somewhere would cost a hotel room. What’s a guy to do in this predicament?
Going home means I’ll be indoors sipping tea and reading all day which doesn’t sound too bad. Then again, I’m in Plymouth NH, home of Plymouth State University which was ranked 9th in the nation for the best party school by Playboy. I don’t really see it but it is summer time and the town is drenched in rain. Although, I’m doubtful my girlfriend would be encouraging that I stay in this town too long given its title. There’s nothing wrong with talking to the barista at this cafe for a bit though. I do have an uncommon passion for coffee and local flavor. Yeah, that’s a good story :)
I think the main reason I’m against this whole bar + cafe + grocery store concept (I also just realized they sell wine and their collection is VERY impressive. Nearly 500 types of wine from Spain to Bordeaux) is that I love cafes because the aroma of coffee is always best in a cafe. T’he problem with this bar + cafe concept is you don’t get that coffee smell. It’s also why I don’t like the cafes that are in B&N or Borders. You don’t smell coffee when you walk in. It’s just books & caffeine but a Starbucks smells like a Starbucks.
I’m always curious just how a school gets deemed a party school. I know that, in Florida, UF was a party school but I went there on the weekend loads of times and never once found a party. It was pretty quiet actually. Where is that party? The barista said that it’s usually restricted to house parties but then said I was too old to be invited. I exclaimed, “I’m 24!” I guess I had been talking to her too long because she said, “Yeah but you don’t seem like a Bud Light kind of guy and it’s mostly just smelly college kids, cheap beer and bad music.”
Yeah, that sounds like a terrible party! I don’t think I’d fit in too well at a college party these days.
I am happy to report that there are 6 tall refrigerators full of quality beer. You can brag a bottle and drink it at the bar. I really enjoyed Jupiler beer while in Belgium. It’s the Budweiser of Belgium and is a cheap pilsner that everyone drinks. I preferred Duvel and Orval and Leffe. However, I’ve been trying to find Jupiler since returning to the states and haven’t. Sadly, this place doesn’t have it either. I know of a few colleagues who are in Belgium often and they say I should just order it online, Jupiler, Leffe and Yuengling as I haven’t seen any of those beers in New England. I was lucky though and picked up some Duvel and Orval at a beer store yesterday so that made me happy but now I don’t want to drink them. At $12 a bottle versus $4 a bottle in Belgium, it’s just hard opening one up. I have friends that complain about wine that costs over $8 and here I am stockpiling $300 in Belgian beer that I may never open. Don’t worry, it’s corked beer so it’ll keep longer and stay fresher than most bottle top beer.
One thing I’ve slowly gotten out of is cigars. I used to smoke cigars often enough that I felt guilty. I amassed a collection, got a humidor and would smoke them socially with friends (no more than once a month). I’ve had 2 cigars in the last 4 months. I have never touched a cigarette either. I’m just not a smoking sort of guy but cigars were always pleasurable in moderation. I didn’t limit my smoking because they’re so bad for me. I just did it because they were pricey and I always wanted to do it with friends or while watching Mad Men. J&B with cola and a Dominican cigar was my Sunday night habit for about 4 weeks then I realized the lunacy of it and stopped. I need to check my cigars because some may have dried out over the winter. That heater can do a number on cigars even with my humidor.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the “scene” in New Hampshire. Sure, I completely realize that there isn’t one. I realized that upon moving here but I’ve been thinking more about it lately with the town and with shops and things to do. There isn’t much to do but I haven’t really felt alone or lonely or anything like that. It’s an interesting and unfortunate dynamic here. Kids grow up with nothing to do and bored out of their minds and then they leave as soon as possible or they get married and have their own kids. This causes a problem. The things to do like hike, play sports and sit in coffee shops are really limited to 20 somethings for the most part. However, the 20 somethings are in college or already married. I was thinking that it’s 2:45 PM on a Saturday and there are two groups of people in here. One is a book club and another is an asian couple having tea. There aren’t any young people in sight. A few students have come in to get coffee and then head right back to their dorms. Where are the young people?
- A) They’re too young to go out (kids)
- B) They’re already married (17-25)
- C) They have kids of their own and are at home taking care of those kids
- D) They’re retired.
There isn’t a class of people in their 20s who are just out and about, on the town, seeing movies, in clubs, doing hobbies and, most importantly, single. These people just aren’t in New Hampshire because, if they had any sense, they’d ‘be living in Boston with other people their age and only come back here to settle down and have kids of their own. Those that I get along with best (educated, social people who love trying new things) are smart enough to get the hell out of New Hampshire and move to a city.
That’s unfortunate.
I’m absolutely happy here and i could see myself living here for a long time. I haven’t had any weird winter blues or feeling like I have to move to a city or back to SF. I am surprisingly fulfilled here and each day I wake up 1-2 hours before my alarm, I jump out of bed, make some tea and actually enjoy shoveling snow and spotting animals out in my yard feeding. I let my chickens out, put on my suit and go to work and then I come home at 5:30 and read, write, edit photos and cook a big meal. This works for me but not for all people. I would just like to make a few friends that want to do that stuff as well. If I didn’t make those friends, I wouldn’t leave here. I’m fine without them but it’s nice to have those bonds mostly because sometimes your car dies or you get hurt and break a leg and having friends is nice.
No complaints though. Life is great!
I just wonder what other people in New Hampshire feel when they realize that the good people moved away (to eventually come back) and the ones not worth knowing just kind of hung around because it was easy. Do you hang out at the bar with the same nobodies you went to school with, the people who didn’t leave or got married too young or do you leave as well? Take that risk.
I never felt like Florida was like that. If I stayed, my life wouldn’t be less amazing. I had a lot going for me in Florida but, in New Hampshire, I feel bad for those who were born here and never left. I talk to my ex-GF, Laura and we discuss growing up in New Hampshire. She admits that it was boring and is happy to have moved to Florida and then eventually to settle down in California. Yeah, but she’s a minority here. Not everyone was as lucky as her or fortunate. Some people she went to school with are still here and it sucks.
So, 45 minutes of writing. I’ll call this one “raindrops” because it just feels appropriate. Raindrops. :)
Happy Saturday. Wish me luck on the drive home. I hope the chickens stayed dry today. Actually, I hope their food stayed dry because that stuff is $20 a bag.