If you're just popping out of the pedestrian tunnel that takes one from the Cutty Sark area of Greenwich to Island Gardens in the Isle of Dogs, then you'll be in throwing distance of a tiny cafe that, outwardly, has all the appeal of a public toilet. However, I would not let the visuals dissuade you from stopping by for a quick cuppa to warm the bones on a wet summer's day.
I had just dashed in as the rain was coming on and, apparently missed the recent rush of folk who'd just come through. The proprietress, a lovely Caribbean women, chatted me up something fierce about needing to catch up on dish washing and floor sweeping as she was there all alone that day.
Not used to 'small talk' as I know it back home in the land of 'chatty Kathies' from strangers here, I was, at first, taken aback at the, sort of, over-share I was receiving from her. But, really, it was nice just to listen to her talk, adding affirmations as necessary.
Had I been hungry, then I would have been inclined to sample something off of the menu. Curried goat with rice and peas, or salt fish with, I think, roti would have gone well with my Tetley's.
*The cafe building might resemble a public loo in Hyde Park, but it doesn't actually have a toilet for customers' use. For that, one has to walk back through the tunnel into Greenwich! Which, in my case, meant 'holding it' til I reached home. read more