the ministry

holiday monday, august 5

for all its breathtaking scenery (imagine gazing northbound from the corktown pedestrian bridge at sunset), ottawa is especially notorious for its bureaucrats: gaggles of nine-to-fiving, pulp-and-paper-pushing civil servants who work for one of the country's gazillion federal Departments and Ministries.

for better or for worse, the mythology surrounding bureaucratic life tends to twist my stomach into uncomfortable knots, calling to mind the sentiment of pink floyd's "money" (it's a gas; grab that cash with both hands and make a stash... *cha-ching*) and the image of a cubicle-shaped vice-grip tightening around the "autonomy" and "imagination" chambers of the brain.

but that perspective has suddenly (if only slightly) shifted, 'cause there's a new ministry in town: the ministry of coffee. a new elgin-street café, where the hot chocolate (still in its experimental stages, according to one of the kindly owners) already dazzles the taste buds and is -- be still my heart! -- scheduled to undergo some kind of nutella-based transformation come wintertime. brrr-illiant!

and that ain't all. there are yummy chicken/cranberry/walnut wraps and suzie q doughnuts waiting impatiently at the counter; kickass, artful photographs suspended from the walls; and van morrison b-sides humming on the speakers.

but how does one really know this place is groovy? by checking in with one of the harshest critics (of anything at all) around, of course. and looky who's here: BRF! (with her foxy beau in tow.) true to form, her resting face is as foul as ever. p.u.! uncharacteristically, however, her mug wavers now and then, revealing a telling expression. yep: that there is a smile! and particularly since she's choosing to be here on a stat holiday -- when all other ministries are temporary dust bowls of activity -- it seems clear that this ministry isn't just the newest of the bunch.

and now back to translating...