Get excited: Kokako has arrived in Grey Lynn, settling gracefully into the old Post Office building. There are potted flowers in the doorway, the staff are smiling like they have a secret they want to share, and it's officially opening tomorrow morning. We were lucky enough to be given the chance to check it out today. Here's what we thought... Courteney: It's the kind of light, breezy, local cafe that I'd be quite comfortable sitting in all day. It just feels as if it's meant to be there, and kind of like it always has been. I wanted to try everything on the menu (and I'm sure I will as this place is dangerously close to my house). There isn't a dull option in sight. Even the toast is special; served with strawberry jam from the Waitakeres, honey from Grey Lynn and fresh fluffy brioche and soda bread that made me think of my Grandma.Stop right there, Courteney; your fresh fluffy PR bollocks is making me sick. You see, Courteney, Kokako wasn't meant to be there and is not kind of like it always has been. Until quite recently the old post office building accommodated - you'll never believe this, Courteney - a post office. Lots of grandmothers went there and mothers, lots of people who are not that well off, poor even, people who could not afford fluffy brioche and who wouldn't be welcome in a light, breezy local cafe - because such cafes are not for the locals, who live in the state houses across the road who buy what they can afford from the local shops, who get by - just. Those people relied on that post office but now it is gone. The people who worked there are gone as well.
Other, more fortunate people also used that post office - it was part of the community. You wouldn't realise this, Courteney, because you are light and breezy and probably don't give a stuff about your neighbourhood, but places like post offices are what hold communities together. And now they are going, replaced by cafes for selfish, fatuous people like you and Dominique ("the concept of this cafe aligns with Kokako’s brand); and let us not forget Alan who doesn't drink coffee but plans to make himself at home there over the rest of his life. I don't know Kokako but with the three of you living on the premises then they will soon become famous for their waffle.
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5 comments:
My local Post Office also closed down and is now a Chemist. Now my nearest post office is in a busy strip mall which I'm not too happy about either. I'm assuming the government is responsible for closing down all the branches? Did they not think about the effects on the community such closures would have? Post offices are much more than dollars on a page.. Anyway..
Russell Brown will be beside himself though. He can worry about the state of the class struggle in salubrious surroundings but a ten minute bike ride from home! Nothing like a breezy café to ignore the POAL dispute whilst getting on with the business of writing unpaid press releases for his buddies in the BDO management. Hell, if the café is that good he could even have second cup of trim latte while name dropping gigs he got comps for.
Love your riposte to Courteney. Keep up the good work!
I thought Grey Lynn had become Gentrified long ago. How many state house tenants are left there?
Russell Brown will be beside himself though. He can worry about the state of the class struggle in salubrious surroundings but a ten minute bike ride from home! Nothing like a breezy café to ignore the POAL dispute whilst getting on with the business of writing unpaid press releases for his buddies in the BDO management. Hell, if the café is that good he could even have second cup of trim latte while name dropping gigs he got comps for.
Oh, fuck off you sad, smug, anonymous wanker.
I am actually on holiday, I haven't "ignored" POAL (and in any case I'll write about what ever I fucking well want), I make my own coffee, and the last fucking thing I'd be drinking is a fucking "trim latte".
Righto.
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