When Lou and I moved here in 2010 people told us that back in the day PE was called the "10 Minute City." You could drive from anywhere in PE to anywhere in PE in 10 minutes. Things have changed over the years. I usually give myself a half hour to drive across town. Such was the case on Crawl Day. I left my house in Lorraine at 8:45 with an ETA of 9:15 at Finnezz in the Humerail Shopping Centre, Humewood. When I arrived at 9:35 (travel time - 50 minutes!) the Crawlers, already seated, thought I'd bagged out on them for the day. What took so long?.... Slow drivers, a few donkey carts, and not one green light. It happens.
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| Meet the Manager David Hickman |
As I entered Finnezz the first thing I thought was that the cafe reminded me of Zest (see Jan, 2012 post). Funny, then, that when I spoke with Manager David Hickman, he informed me that Finnezz, Zest, and a third shop called Balizza, make up the ZZ Group of cafes in PE.
The expanded and beautifully renovated/newly decorated version of Finnezz re-opened its doors for business three months ago. Perched on the hill across Marine Drive from PE's busy port, Finnezz provides an impressive view of the ocean. While enjoying teas, smoothies, and Illy brand and Masterton's coffees, Thursday's Crawlers, Margaret Zoetmulder, June Nash, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Colleen Le Roux, Nomusa Nkomo, Leanne Waller, Vicki Minnaar, Gail Darne, watched tankers and cargo ships enter and exit the port. Along with David's bottle and shaker juggling, there was no shortage of entertainment. Awesome skills, David!
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| David juggling |
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| Don't drop it ..... |
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| Meet the Barista Seth Randall |
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| Meet the Chef Iusan Naidoo |
The Finnezz menu includes breakfast, lunch and dinner selections...many of the Crawlers ordered breakfast on Thursday.... we stayed long enough that we could have had Chef Uisan fix us some lunch as well. As Finnezz is fully licensed I was tempted to have Barista Seth add a little Jameson to my coffee but held off.... a morning whiskey with my coffee is reserved for St. Pat's Day!
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| A nice, frosty smoothie on a hot day |
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| This Week's Crawlers Margaret, June, Stella, Colleen, Nomusa, Beryl, Leanne, Vicki, Gail |
In the past month we have said good-bye to a few wonderful ladies who had become regulars at our Thursday morning Crawls. My daughter, Liz, has returned to Washington, DC, Kathy Roppel moved back to Canada, and Mandy de Beer moved to Guernsey. Now, we say farewell to Vicki Minnaar who is moving three hours northeast of PE to East London. At least she is staying in the same hemisphere! We will miss you, Vicki, especially on St. Pat's Day! Be sure to join us for coffee anytime you're in PE.
(Okay, I've mentioned St. Pat's Day twice so far.... sooo looking forward to it... just a little over a month away!)
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| Good-bye, Vicki |
Anyway, enough of the good-byes and on to the talk at the table. Though most of us were not following the AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) very closely, by Thursday we all knew that South Africa (the host country) was out and the Final Matchup was between Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The game was played a few days after the Crawl with Nigeria winning the AFCON Title. Congrats Team Nigeria!
The sports talk was followed by a discussion of planes, trains, and automobiles and how one passes the time on lengthy trips. A real killer is the 17-hour Joburg to Atlanta flight. I'm mentally prepping now and stocking up on SoDoKu for that long flight which we will take in June. Any good put-you-to sleep reading suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
~Thank you to the Finnezz Staff who took great care of us.
~Happy Valentine's Day to all - February 14
~Happy 25th Birthday to my son and occasional Crawler, Jeff - February 17
~Happy Birthday to Marleah and new Mom Nicolette - February 12
~Good luck to Vicki as she moves to East London
Until next week,
Ellen
Some more juggling fun with David......
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