Grumbles

[calissa]

The weather outside this afternoon is absolutely gorgeous: the sun is shining and even though there is snow on the hills the temperature is reasonably warm. It would be the perfect day to do some gardening but I am down and out with a cold. I'm finding it difficult to be gracious about this--my To-Do list is rather long but my body refuses to have a bar of it. I've already had one nap today and am starting to feel in need of a second one.

After several difficult weeks, I seem to have settled into a writing routine. It probably helps that my gaming schedule has quietened down somewhat, with the Robin Hood campaign wrapping up and Cenotaph set to shortly. I'm not managing much in terms of word count, but just stringing together a couple of writing sessions has helped improve my outlook.

If you follow me on social media, you're probably aware of my outrage over the closure of one of my favourite tea stores. Adore Tea is a local business that first opened up at a village of boutique stores over the far side of town. They did so well for themselves that they were able to open up stalls at two shopping centres owned by Westfield. One was over my side of town and it was extra special because not only did it sell looseleaf tea but it also did take-away tea using specially modified coffee machines. Although the shopping centre was still a bit of a drive from my place, it was where my mum and I would go whenever we wanted an outing out and another friend and I would order their special of the week to take into the cinema whenever we were off to watch a movie.

The stall at the other shopping centre closed some time ago and yesterday I came across an announcement that the stall at the local shopping mall was closing too. T2 (a big chain selling packaged tea and accessories--but no take-away tea) had recently been installed quite close to the Adore Tea stall. Westfield raised Adore's rent, then terminated their lease, giving them just 24 hours to move out.

Adore had a sale where I picked up the following:



I am totally disgusted by Westfield's treatment of Adore Tea and will no longer be shopping at their malls. This isn't a hardship because I rarely go there and I find T2's tea to be of inferior quality. However, it does mean that I'll have to travel quite a distance to the nearest decent tea shop (the Tea Centre) and further afield if I want visit Adore Tea.