Hey hey, it's Friday!

Today is Vanessa's last day before she goes on holiday - she showed up this morning with a sore throat, I hope she doesn't spend her holiday sick in bed.

While the cold winter wind indiscriminately blows wet slices through every pedestrian, our little shop radiates warmth and cosiness - sweeping the windblown wet pedestrian right into our door. The first coffee seekers showed up here this morning at 07h15 and they kept coming until mid morning when the coffees started being accompanied by hearty breakfasts. Luckily Maritzi works on a Friday which gave me some time to chat with the customers - an attempt to create the feeling of a visit rather than just going for coffee.
Our local coffee shoppe baby, Felix, comes for a visit every week morning with his parents, Aveline and Tom.



Felix used to get a buttermilk rusk every morning but for some reason he thought rusks had a dual purpose - one for eating every now and again and the other to throw around and see how many crumbs you can create in the shortest time. Aveline decided (wisely and to Lulu our cleaner's relief) to switch to a slice of buttered wholewheat toast - now the floor is littered with small, soggy pieces of toast. At least it's easier to clean :)
Another of our regular children is Ana, she and her mom Melany comes here every now and again - Melany used to work in my place every second Saturday for my day off. Ana was born profoundly deaf and has had cochlear implants at a very young age (she turns 2 in June). She now has a bee in her bonnet to walk everywhere though she's still learning to walk and as yet cannot walk by herself. So in order to give mom a chance to drink her cappuccino, Ana took me for a walk - right to the kitchen where I introduced her to the friendly kitchen staff: "say hello to auntie Vanessa .... and auntie Bisa.... and auntie Lulu?" she paused for a while looking at these three faces watching her expectantly and promptly uttered one word "Lu-lu" Which immediately brought a sun ray of a smile to Lulu's face.
We love having our regular children here, we follow each one's development and growth with loving eyes. It is such a privilege to become involved for a short 30minutes to an hour in people's lives - to see things come and go and share in the joys and tears of life. This interaction is the fairy dust magic of this shop, something which I wouldn't miss for the world!
I have the weekend off and won't write again until Monday, so hey-hey it's Friday, I can sleep late tomorrow and all that jazzz!!! Have a great weekend to all my wonderful and sometimes less than wonderful customers and friends.