Monthly Archives: December 2019

The very well-printed back of the business card of the Geeks Public House in St. John's; "Games, Comradery, Drinks"

Review: Geeks Public House, St. John’s, NL

So, last night (Dec. 28th) my youngest sister and I went to the pub owned by a friend of hers, the Geeks Public House on Duckworth St. in St. John’s.

As many of you probably know, bars and pubs can be nightmares for autistics, between the screens, the lighting, the volume of the music (whether live, on TV, or from CDs or the radio). However, Geeks Public House is specifically designed by the owner to be a quiet, accessible space – essentially a board game café that’s actually a bar rather than a café. (And unfortunately, given it’s in what was an old house on Duckworth Street, it doesn’t have the greatest physical accessibility; there are no ramps, and the stairs can be a bit steep.)

I was rather looking forward to it (especially after being at Ben’s Bar in Churchill Square the night before for a cousins’ night, and having live music played there; the songs were ones I like, but the volume was horrendous and the only reason I stayed past the first few minutes was that I wanted to spend time with my cousins). Said youngest sister (aka the SLP sister rather than the teacher sister) had promised to “kidnap” me there sometime while she was down here for the Christmas/winter holidays.

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#SensoryAssault at the Avalon Mall

…And we’re not talking about the holiday shopping crowd or even the people smoking in places that are specifically marked as non-smoking (though I consider that a sensory assault and a health hazard as well).

As with all malls, there are a large number of stores in the Avalon Mall, and three (or four) have been problematic, sensory-wise, until about a few months ago (when some were added, see below). Bath and Body Works – in the section between CIBC and Scotiabank, and the escalators; Saje – second floor between the cinema and Lawtons; and The Body Shop – across from Saje, all have very distinct and strong smells coming from them, that can be rather aggravating for anyone with hypersensitive smell, or a sensitivity to particular types of fragrances. As you probably know from other posts on my blog, I’m both. Sephora, as a makeup store, can also have problematic smells at times.

There have also been complaints about the new restaurant/entertainment section, The Rec Room, in terms of the light and noise, but I haven’t yet gone into that section, so can’t say anything from my own experience yet.

But now there’s a (sort of) new store, set right in the open area where the Santa Claus is, next to Laura Secord (of all things!), called Lush.

Lush has a wonderful reputation in their home country of Great Britain for being environmentally aware and focused on products that are healthy as well as beautiful – I made a new friend through doing NaNoWriMo this year who just immigrated from England, and she uses their products exclusively. There were a number of articles about their opening the store in the Avalon Mall.

Unfortunately, walking anywhere near the Lush store is a nightmare – I used the term sensory assault for good reason.

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