If you walk down Union Street heading towards the Shard, you will find a red open-spaced indie cafe with a sign saying, “£2.20 for a sausage / bacon bagel & a hot drink”. Kelvin and I walked in last Tuesday, hoping that they would pledge their leftovers for Hot Choc Soc.
“I don’t have a lot, but I can give you guys the leftovers on Saturday since we don’t open on Sundays.”
“Do you have a business card? Do you need a sponsorship letter?”
“No, no. There’s no need for any of that. We do business the traditional way here.”
“Should we at least leave you our number?”
“Well you can if you want to.”
After scribbling my mobile details briefly on a piece of torn up paper, Mick, the cafe owner, was surprised to find out that my name is spelt and pronounced as the word meaning a piece of land growing crops (as most people are), he laughed before shoving it into the pocket of his beige chinos.
After our somewhat informal meeting with Mick, we sat down for some coffee. A slow setting of the autumn sun creeped upon us as traffic at the cafe slowed down, the sweet smell of Kelvin’s hot chocolate occasionally wafted by as we had a brief conversation regarding the uncertainty of life beyond graduation. Neither of us mentioned it but I suppose we were both quite taken aback with how trusting Mick was. Despite having to live in the common era with the rise of globalisation and consumerism, the sole value of trust is slowly lost within our modern society. We hardly said anything at all after that, sitting in our chairs, enjoying American folk music playing form the iPod dock, and perhaps feeling a sense of gratitude towards Mick, at the same time allowing the mutual understanding of sentiments sink in, of how it’s true that a little act of kindness really goes a long way.
“I’ve got to go now, but I will see you this Saturday evening. Also, the coffee and hot chocolate is on the house.”
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If you happen to be in the area of Southwark and are in need for a hot beverage, kindly drop by the Union Theatre Cafe!
Written by Wey Chern Farm