Of the map...

Of the map...

søndag den 6. juni 2010

Café breaks (the princes and princesses of Nuuk)



Every now and then I tend to spend a few hours in one of Nuuk’s small cafés. It helps me maintain the illusion that I live in a big city with life and versatility. Obviously this isn’t true, in reality I live in a very small town with few people and very little big city life, but I once read that one is most happy when one is daydreaming and fantasizing and I guess that’s way I tend to return to my cafés.

My café breaks are very nice and to some extend it’s also charming to live in a small city because the people at the other tables are often the same. The guests becomes almost as an extended family. This being said every family has its black sheep and my café family is neither an exception nor short of any black sheep. In fact, I think my café family has a bit too many black sheep. Or maybe it would be more appropriate to call them black lambs, because they’re all children. They’re like little, awful cousins whose parents are those aunts and uncles you never really understood you are actually related to.

I don’t mind people bringing their children with them in cafés or at the cinema or for an art exhibition and so on, but I do mind when the parents don’t control their children or attend to them. Unfortunately, I seem to be the only one here in Nuuk who has this condition. Everybody else seems fine with drinking their coffee and reading their news paper while a bunch of screaming children runs about and plays dog kennel underneath the café tables. Just this day I was at my café, drinking my coffee and reading a book when all sudden a small child crawls up under the table and starts barking at me after which he takes the chair opposite mine and starts to drag it across the room. I found myself rather startled at this behaviour but even more startled when I realized that the parents just smiled and praised the boy for being such a good dog(!)

I guess I just have to learn that up here children have the last word. They are notoriously spoiled and pampered and act just accordingly. They truly are like little princes and princesses who never does anything wrong. The boys especially are brought up to think the whole world revolves around them and as consequent teenage boys are often very arrogant and rather rude.

So now I’ve found a new café without children, with eminent coffee, very reasonable prices, excellent music and a marvellous view. And best of all, I’m guaranteed to always get a seat, since the café is set in my own living room. I realized that even though I do enjoy the odd day out at a café I really don’t feel like paying 40DKK (5,40€) for a coffee and then have to drink it in a noisy dog kennel when I own a most excellent espresso machine myself and I have a very nice couch to settle into and a fairly good range of various books to become lost in. So, here’s to Nuuk’s first dog kennel free café – it’s well worth the visit for those who needs a break from their noisy everyday life.