stolen from vandicla on flickrand finally...a story from my great big thrift trip last week...
i got to the little town i was going to a bit earlier than their thrift stores open. i was parked in a strip mall with the usual tiny shops and... a donut shop! i stopped in for a coconut cake donut and a cup of black coffee and i knew instantly i'd chosen the right place to spend my twenty minutes when i spotted one of my favorite kinds of groups to people-watch.
one of the cutest phenomena in human nature is the old man's breakfast club. either by chance or on purpose, groups of four to eight men (aged 55+) congregate at the same cafe, restaurant, donut shop, or coffeeshop every morning at the same time.
maybe a couple of them were buddies before and one day another customer joined in their conversation and then he and his buddies all joined the circle. they all become friends based almost exclusively on the facts that they are old and they are men. their conversations range from current events (mainly politics-bashing) to gripes about their wives or children and almost always lead to stories of the good ol' days that you know must be embellished a little but are highly entertaining anyway.
the men trickle in and out of the shop and the conversation. they start side conversations. the group i was listening to finally spread onto two tables with a 'hello' and 'good morning' for everyone as each man came in at his own leisurely pace. it's also super cute to watch their interactions with the people that work at the shop - they've obviously been going to the same place for years and there is a very familiar (and familial) relationship between everybody.
my favorite part of witnessing this situation that morning was reflecting on all the other times i've seen this exact same type of group doing the exact same thing in so many other places. it was even pretty easy finding a picture online to describe what i'm talking about - i had to choose from pics of groups of men at cafes from all over the world. it's not even just an american good ol' boy kind of thing. i could go on explaining why this old man's breakfast club is so dang cute, but it's getting kind of corny and i'm possibly the only person who cares about this anyway, so i'll stop alienating my dear readers and go work on something else to talk about.
i got to the little town i was going to a bit earlier than their thrift stores open. i was parked in a strip mall with the usual tiny shops and... a donut shop! i stopped in for a coconut cake donut and a cup of black coffee and i knew instantly i'd chosen the right place to spend my twenty minutes when i spotted one of my favorite kinds of groups to people-watch.
one of the cutest phenomena in human nature is the old man's breakfast club. either by chance or on purpose, groups of four to eight men (aged 55+) congregate at the same cafe, restaurant, donut shop, or coffeeshop every morning at the same time.
maybe a couple of them were buddies before and one day another customer joined in their conversation and then he and his buddies all joined the circle. they all become friends based almost exclusively on the facts that they are old and they are men. their conversations range from current events (mainly politics-bashing) to gripes about their wives or children and almost always lead to stories of the good ol' days that you know must be embellished a little but are highly entertaining anyway.
the men trickle in and out of the shop and the conversation. they start side conversations. the group i was listening to finally spread onto two tables with a 'hello' and 'good morning' for everyone as each man came in at his own leisurely pace. it's also super cute to watch their interactions with the people that work at the shop - they've obviously been going to the same place for years and there is a very familiar (and familial) relationship between everybody.
my favorite part of witnessing this situation that morning was reflecting on all the other times i've seen this exact same type of group doing the exact same thing in so many other places. it was even pretty easy finding a picture online to describe what i'm talking about - i had to choose from pics of groups of men at cafes from all over the world. it's not even just an american good ol' boy kind of thing. i could go on explaining why this old man's breakfast club is so dang cute, but it's getting kind of corny and i'm possibly the only person who cares about this anyway, so i'll stop alienating my dear readers and go work on something else to talk about.
1 comment:
Zero alienation here, I am completely with you - I am totally smitten with old men and when they are all drinking coffee and talking together I just want to give them all a big squeeze! I used to work in a coffeeshop where a group met weekly, it was so sweet!
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