Can you imagine?

Today, I had to travel to North Vancouver to go to my chiropractor. While I was on that side of the water, I took a few extra minutes to pop in on my 'tea guy'. He had closed the store down for the summer, and was to reopen this week, and I needed to stock up on a few things.

Now, parking is always a real chore in that neighbourhood. There is only 1 hour street parking near his store, and no real good parking lots close by. Which usually means driving around the block a few times (or more) and then having to parallel park on the street (which forces you to parallel park while there are cars and people watching, and waiting on you to get it right). This is not something I find particularly relaxing. So, imagine my utter relief, when there was a big parking spot, at the end of the block only a few steps away from the Tea Shoppe. Perfect! Zing, reverse, erch, and I was parked. It’s going to be a good day today!

But, while I was walking to the store, the big “For Lease” sign in the window caught my attention….
NO!!! It can’t be!!!
Jitendra was in the store, and as I walked in, I forgot all common courtesy and went straight for the facts. No, “Hi, how are you?”…Nope….I walked in and said, “What’s up? Why is there a For Lease sign in your window?”

Long story short…he’s been in the business 38 years now. He doesn’t want to work anymore, he wants to retire. His son doesn’t want to take over the store. So, after 38 years in business in North Vancouver, and the 4th generation of his family to own a tea shoppe, he is closing down at the end of the year.
**YIKES!!!**
What am I going to do for tea now? I’ve bought other tea from other stores, and I like his best! What am I going to do? (Because, you know…it’s all about ME, right!). Well, it turns out that he’s going to do a mail order type business from home for his special clients.

And get this....I’m one of his Special Clients!! *woohoo!!*

He won’t deliver to my home, because I live 40 kms away from him. But, he will deliver anywhere in North Vancouver, or mail my tea to me. I just order by email, and pay via pay-pal or bank transfer, and voila….special delivery. We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but he said he would be in touch in the next few weeks. And he is still in business until the end of the year, so I’m sure we’ll work out something.

Meanwhile, I’m secretly hoping that I win the lottery tonight. I am thinking that it wouldn’t take much for me to quit my job, and buy his tea store. “Can you imagine?” is the marketing tag line for the lottery Corporation here. And, yes….I can imagine!!