I went to The Village recently to hunt up some nougat for a friend and dropped into a place I discovered last year, Pouding Cafe. Nice proprietors and staff, yummy sandwiches and coffee, and this sign.
I grok the “no wifi here, talk amongst yourselves” policy. You can’t enjoy life looking at a screen, and there’s nothing better than hanging out at a sweet little cafe without TVs or laptops to bogart one’s attention.
I take my food down the street to the park to eat (‘cos COVID) but it’s nice to know there are still places that appreciate and foster simple human connection over good cups of coffee. You won’t find this anymore in bougie hipster L.A.
4 replies on “Talk Amongst Yourselves”
In SD, I might have seen an apologetic sign, “Sorry no WiFi.”
Right? Internet is considered life’s blood in every aspect of life in California (granted, we had a hard time being without internet for two weeks when we arrived, but it was nice to be without it too, in its way).
This is one of the things I admire about the French culture here in Quebec–the idea of “slow food,” that hanging out, talking to neighbors/family/friends, or just watching the world go by–enjoyment of this kind is considered valuable here, much more so than at home. I’m down with it.
In today’s episode of Cross-border Irony… I’m looking at a screen while enjoying your post about not being able to enjoy life while looking at a screen… but also wishing there was someone here with whom to talk “amongst ourselves”.
It’s true, the pandemic deprived us of so much, and distance continues to do so for us and our friends. I think this sign is in keeping with that, though–encouraging people to enjoy the IRL people and experiences around us, instead of just lapsing into the bad habit of screen surfing all the time. Screens have their place–just not in French cafés lol