Bernadette Braganza

Playful Pocket-sized Plots.

WEP: History of the Café du Forum

“Just see, one day I’ll build myself a theatre, bigger than Will’s next door. It’ll have a magnificent terrace where my lovely leading lady will lean out and say to her lover,

More fairy tale than reality

Is what I feel for thee.

And lo and behold,

If you are not more precious to me than gold…”

“Aye, you and your dreamy ‘trends’. Shut up and knead that dough already. The bakery opens in 15 minutes.”

***

“Are you sure that’s how it happened?” I asked the young owner.

“Yes mademoiselle. That’s why my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather is known as the pioneer of French Cafés like this. It was his ultimate goal in life.”

“Ok, I guess this’ll be quite a story.”

Word Count 131 : FCA

This month’s WEP theme is Café Terrace. Join us for a cup of coffee?

Bernadette Braganza

February 18, 2020

Story, WEP Challenge

AcrossTime&theUniverse, bakery, Cafe, cafe du forum, cafe terrace, dough, French, French Café, Globe Theatre, grandfather, history, leading lady, Poem, precious, sonnata, terrace, theatre

41 responses to “WEP: History of the Café du Forum”

patgarcia

February 19, 2020 at 7:10 pm

Hi,
Thanks for showing how the cafe actually originated. It indeed wetted my thirst to read more.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:50 am
  
  Thanks Pat
  
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Anstice Brown

February 19, 2020 at 8:35 pm

I enjoyed your short but sweet piece. I wonder if the young owner is repeating the story exactly as he remembers it or embellishing it with his own romantic imagination.

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:52 am
  
  Well, I do think that he was exaggerating a bit.
  
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Yolanda Renee

February 19, 2020 at 8:48 pm

LOL, I’m sure that story is told daily, at least a dozen times to all the new tourists that appear with stars in their eyes!
Love it!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:53 am
  
  Maybe 🙂 I didn’t stick around to find out.
  
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Jemi Fraser

February 19, 2020 at 8:48 pm

Fun story! Love the origin 🙂

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:54 am
  
  Thanks for reading 🙂
  
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Carole Stolz

February 19, 2020 at 11:23 pm

What an original take. Thank you.

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Olga Godim

February 20, 2020 at 2:39 am

I love your short and snappy stories. They’re always fun to read, and this one was no exception. Well done!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:55 am
  
  Thanks Olga 🙂
  
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Elephant’s Child

February 20, 2020 at 3:48 am

An intriguing snippet.
With the number of great involved I suspect this family falls in love (and breeds) very quickly.
Big smiles.

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:55 am
  
  You never know
  
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cleemckenzie

February 20, 2020 at 5:45 am

Lots of “great” history around this cafe!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:56 am
  
  Sure is! Thanks for reading.
  
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Denise Covey

February 20, 2020 at 7:13 am

Bernadette, you’re the master of short, snappy snippets which go straight to the heart. Love this piece, but I was hankering to read more. Hmm. What was the baker making? Baguettes? ((licks lips))).

A great entry for CAFE TERRACE!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:59 am
  
  I forgot to ask that. Was too busy staring at the pasties on the next table.
  
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Nilanjana Bose

February 20, 2020 at 12:15 pm

Love the humour and the reality punch. Your short shorts are masterful.

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:09 pm
  
  Thanks Nilanjana 😀
  
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soniadogra

February 20, 2020 at 3:28 pm

Crisp and splendid! Great to know about the great, great, great…. origin😊

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:09 pm
  
  It was certainly quite a revelation 🙂
  
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L.G. Keltner (@LGKeltner)

February 21, 2020 at 2:45 am

You always amaze me with your ability to tell so much story in so few words! I’m sure this story has been told time and again, and will continue to be passed on. Well done!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:08 pm
  
  Thank you for reading 🙂
  
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rolandclarke

February 21, 2020 at 5:41 am

Your short, sweet, and tasty treat entertained me, then I had to go delving down a cafe terrace rabbit hole. Who was Will?

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:07 pm
  
  It was originally supposed to be a reference to William Shakespeare but then I decided to leave it open to interpretation.
  
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Cara Hartley

February 21, 2020 at 6:42 am

A very nice short piece! I resonate with the dreamer or at least younger me does. I always used to have very big plans.
~cie from team netherworld~

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:06 pm
  
  I do too! Not sure about achieving them though.
  
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Toi Thomas

February 22, 2020 at 12:50 am

You always put so much into so few words. Fun piece.
I wonder how many times he’d told that story.
Thanks for sharing.

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:03 pm
  
  I wonder that too. Thanks for reading Toi 🙂
  
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Kalpana

February 22, 2020 at 3:13 pm

Saying so much in just a few words and getting the atmosphere and the details in to such an extent that the reader is immediately involved in the story is an art and you’re very good at Bernadette!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:02 pm
  
  Thanks Kalpana 🙂
  
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Sally

February 22, 2020 at 6:12 pm

We need to know more!

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 12, 2020 at 11:58 am
  
  As soon as I can visit again
  
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Donna Hole

February 23, 2020 at 5:06 am

Lol. That was fun.

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hilarymb

February 24, 2020 at 2:00 pm

Hi Bernadette – I wondered if you were going to take us back to Shakespeare’s day … but there weren’t enough greats …yet the story was short and sweet – loved it … cheers Hilary

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:01 pm
  
  All the world’s a stage, my character and this story plays a small part in it. Thanks for reading.
  
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susanrouchard

February 25, 2020 at 1:53 am

Ha, ha, ha Bernadette, that was fun and concise.
Wishful thinking. 12 generations, that would go back to before the French Revolution, 18th century France, bakeries didn’t offer drinks, that’s a twentieth century thing, and it started with pâtisseries converting into salons de the after WWII, on the German model of Kaffee und Kuchen which existed in the 19th century. Women could not act in a theatre until the end of the 19th in France.
The bistros and cafés are an extension of taverns and brasseries which offered coffee to the public only in the last decades of the 19th century when France created its plantations in the colonies in Africa ( the beans came from Central America )
Dreams will be dreams and fiction can take all sorts of liberties, very original.

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 8:59 pm
  
  Wow! Never knew that. Tbh the number of greats were actually random and I didn’t really calculate how long ago that would be.
  
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susanrouchard

February 26, 2020 at 4:29 am

My deep apologies Bernadette, I realise you were talking about a place in London ? And thanks to Nilanjana, that the coffee beans do originate from Ethiopia, see my comment on her post. The origin of the cafés in France, I think is pretty accurate to my knowledge, I’ll have to check more thoroughly and get back to you … now I’m suddenly unsure.

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Damyanti Biswas

February 28, 2020 at 11:30 pm

Love the origin story.

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1. Bernadette Braganza
  
  July 17, 2020 at 8:51 pm
  
  Thanks Damyanti 🙂
  
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