There is a coffee place in Westdale, Hamilton called My Dog Joe's that I fell in love with the moment I stumbled on it just over a year ago. I don't live in Hamilton but I make the trip every now and again just to sit and muse over a cup of ethically sourced coffee or roughage packed muffin so recently baked it's usually still warm. There is something very cosy about this place with it's higgledy piggledly approach to interior design. It's not stylized Bohemia, it's better than that. To me it's authentic South London squat meets warehouse interior. No two chairs are the same. Tables range from fold out vinyl topped picnic bench to secondhand bookshop reproduction mahogany. Totally random. If you're lucky you can nab a deep, squishy armchair at the back against a wall lined with original artist fare.
This week the walls were adorned with pop-art style portraits of rock stars from the ages overlaid with lurid screenprint acrylics, all for sale. The place rotates artists every few weeks. Next time it could be wall sculptures made from petrified wood (love the word petrified) or plastic bags. Pier 1 it isn't.
No matter what the weather outside is doing, for some esoteric reason the place is usually steamed up and hot, hot, hot. This isn't the result of over heating or over conditioning. For a start this place shouts CONSERVATION!, it's definitely not run by wastrels. I've come to think of it as a little hothouse of productivity whose patrons are so inspired by the cosy vibe, they've given off enough creative energy to produce this micro ecosystem.
In being so close to MacMaster Uni, there is a lot of 'laptop-and-chunky-textbook' thing going on, but you'd be silly to pigeonhole all its patrons into one box because they are as eclectic as the decor. On any given visit, you will likely find a kaleidoscope of people from students to hippie grandmas to maternity leave mums to boho junkies like myself. I will make the 20 minute highway drive just to sit and have an organic mango/orange juice while I piece together a story for work or just because. I do feel a little bit hypocritical driving to such an ethically minded establishment but I'm conscious of it and try to compensate in other ways. Oh the guilty pleasure of it all.
I'm not entirely sure what it is that I like so much about this kooky little place. Yes, I love the atmosphere, the vibe, the food and the feel but I think it's also related to the place it takes me in my head. Up there in my mind, when I'm in this place, I'm reminded of when I was 18, guided by fancy and folly, hungry for life experiences and truly convinced that anything was possible. Coming here, I guess I'm reminded that anything is still possible if I just dare to keep believing. And while I nourish my body with ridiculously natural food, I'm also feeding my mind with dreams that one day might just come true - even now.
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