(I hope this is my most inane post of 2011)
I don't get to malls very often, I am happy to say. Basically never, but I did join the Mrs. to check out Teavana on Sunday afternoon. We had run out of good tea. They had one of the Help Wanted signs. The place was busy. Help Wanted signs all over the place.
Well, it was a bit of an adventure for me. "Bird Dog Goes To The Mall." Your editor goes to lots of places, and loves to bang around NYC, but not malls or shops unless Home Depot counts. Nice clean mall with natural light and Palm trees all over. Packed with people, but I tried to avoid taking their photos. The main thing I noticed was the small-d democratic nature of the populace there. All types, all colors, every apparent level of evident prosperity or lack thereof, all languages, all ages, strolling, laughing, window-shopping, and joking around. A day off work. In the tea place, I heard German, Japanese, Chinese, French, and something I could not identify.
An agora. People having fun, spending money, looking at stuff. Too bad they couldn't have built a similar phenomenon on the town's streets, but perhaps people like the feeling of enclosure and predictability.
More Mall Adventure pics below -
If they know your wife by name at Neims, you're in trouble.
The people working at the teavana place had learned a lot about tea. I learned that you are never supposed to use boiling-hot water for tea.
Burberry Children? Good grief.
This is just one wing of the place:
There was a long line at the Starbucks. I guess I ended up walking into the tea place with a cup of black House Blend. Blasphemy.
Altogether an excellent adventure into a piece of America, but that should hold me for a few years. We did buy some nice teas which Mrs. BD took the trouble to pick out with the help of the nice people working there. She very much enjoyed her tea education.
Tracked: Jan 11, 04:58