The Thousands

Queen/Elizabeth Street in Croydon is a bit of an oasis. I’ve never been there when it’s not sunny. I’ve never been there when there haven’t been kids riding their tricycles around. Everyone’s always smiling. Dogs sit patiently on the footpath while their owners wander blissfully through shops. Couples walk hand in hand along the pavement, stopping every now and then to point things in the windows out to each other. The train crossing dings melodically in the background. Everything is just so damn happy and wholesome. It’s like a freaking alternate universe.

The café there, the appropriately named Queen Street Café, doesn’t disappoint. I’m sure those pastries and cakes sitting enticingly around the shop are full of bad things but boy, they just look so good! Authentic! Tasty! Made with actual love and care. The furniture is carefully mismatched. Customers swap newspapers when they’re done and share friendly conversation over the communal table. The coffees are served with a complimentary chocolates – bingo! The sense of community and general ‘Saturday arvo laziness’ is overwhelming, almost so to the point of being sickening. But the coffee is good. And the cakes. Did I mention the chocolate?