Christchurch. September 2009. AjrBlax Espresso Bar on Montreal Street here in Christchurch has long been a favourite coffee spot of mine - well, until my favourite barista, Darryl went walkabout. Sadly it's never been quite the same since he left. However, I called in last week and found the winds of change have blown through again. Much of the adjacent deli has gone - or at least been shifted into the back corner - and a new seating area with mirrored walls, snappy red seats and a blackboard filled with words have arrived. I like words. I make no secret of that passion. And not just because I'm a writer by profession and intrigued by the expressive power of words; it's also about the actual visual beauty of words - the typography, the shapes, the curvatures and of course, the spaces between - those rich breeding grounds of allusion and thought. By chance, the team at Blax have topped this wordy expanse with another of my favourite things - cheese boxes, more than that even, cheese boxes covered in words! The cafe itself may not have quite the zing and atmosphere it used to have but I will return - if only to sit and gaze at this wordy wall and allow my thoughts and memories to bubble up between the chalked-out list.
