Magic. The musician sings like a mix of Bob Marley and Shawn McDonald as he drums on his guitar. It’s my first time at the Oxford Exchange in Tampa and it feels like magic. A bookstore opens up to a coffee house, which opens to a two-story parlor with live music and a restaurant with a glass ceiling, which leads into a tea shop. Beautifully worn out leather couches are sprinkled about and they’re full of University of Tampa students and folks nicely dressed from their respective places of employment. I would like to have a part time job here. I wonder if the magic would diminish if I had to clean the bathrooms.
A few of these songs have already struck a chord with me and it’s silly, but I find myself listening to every lyric, thinking it’ll give me answers to my questions.
“I think it’s gonna be a long, long time. Til touch down brings me round again to find I’m not the man you think I am at home. I’m a rocket man.” Hm.
No answers. But this singer is incredible. No one claps. Maybe it’s too classy of a place for applause. It takes a lot of control for me not to. So I wrote him a note that said so and put it with a $5 tip. Acts like this will not help my travel account, but they do make me smile. And hopefully it made him smile as well.
I saw the bathroom on my way out. I wouldn’t mind cleaning it on a daily basis for free coffee every hour.
beth of fresh air 