On Searching For Wireless In Southampton And Finding It In Bridgehampton

One of the Hamptons' (though not, to be sure, many of its summer residents') most endearing qualities is its aversion of the gaudy and the ostentatious. Going down some roads (Hedges Lane in Bridgehampton and Madison Street in Sag Harbor are prime examples), my mind gets stuck in a "how beautiful" groove for ages.

For the most part, this feeling carries over to the town centers, with their expensive boutiques neatly tucked into quaint old buildings, their high concentration of happy dogs, retro bicylcles, and cute summer frocks, their abundance of continentaly, sceney cafes... But occasionally, the adherence to the way things rarely were can get to me, as it did yesterday. My favorite way to work is to get my butt to a cafe, so I can people-watch as I type.

In Manhattan, I did this nearly everyday, in different neighborhoods when I could, and it really added to my perception of the city. So yesterday, I finally left my couch and headed to Sant Ambroeus in Southampton. It looked perfect, filled with the elegantly wasting and a sprinkling of their iPhone-glued partners. I ordered a doppio and fired up my macbook. No wireless.

Zut alors, I thought. I should have figured. So I gulped my doppio and headed across the street. The Village Cheese Shop didn't have wifi, nor did Silver's, nor, more surprisingly, did the Golden Pear. I ended up in Bridgehampton, not at the adorable Pierre's, but at generic ole Starbucks.

Even there, the wifi wasn't easy to get. I had to pay $10 for a T-Mobile "day pass," of which I used precisely 45 minutes before my computer ran out of charge. I'm guessing that there are lovely, wireless-equipped spots around here somewhere, and I'm just somehow missing them, but google hasn't been able to help me find them. Can you?

[Image via RecSports]