Timmies

What is our fascination with the corner coffee shop? No, for all you uber-yuppies, I am not speaking of Starbucks. I mean Tim Hortons. Do they put cocaine in the brew and thus get everyone so addicted to it that people can’t even go grocery shopping without it?
I remember a time when there was a gas station on every corner. There basically still is, but they have changed. The old time gas stations had rest rooms that you could use if you had a strong enough constitution and were caught, shall we say, short. Today, gas stations are self serve and the rest rooms are consigned to history.

Fortunately, Tim Hortons has come to the rescue and these shops have sprung up on every other corner across our land. They offer unrestricted access to their immaculate rest rooms and I admit having to avail myself of them many times when I was on the road. And boy, was I ever grateful. Never grateful enough to buy their coffee, mind you, but thankful for small pleasures.
What I can’t understand is why some people will cut across 4 lanes of traffic, risking life and limb, just to get a cup of this stuff. I can’t walk through a store of any kind without seeing people slurping back this java as they shop. Is it so important that they can’t either have the coffee before they shop or stop in after their shopping is done? It seems to me that having a coffee is like having a little break in your day. And that should be enjoyed quietly and savoured. There is nothing wrong with having a coffee and to have a doughnut along with it is a bonus. Why would anyone ruin that by doing it while they are looking for a lawn mower at Canadian Tire?

I know a guy who only leaves his house to go on ‘Timmie Runs’, as my wife and I call them. Six times a day he does this and returns with 4 large coffees and doughnuts for himself and his wife. His wife is housebound but she can still get around. Why can’t either of them make their own coffee? It sure would be cheaper. I pay less for a couple of pounds of coffee that lasts my wife and I a couple of weeks than he pays in one day for Timmies. I don’t suppose that he and his wife drink the two coffees each in any great hurry and rely on the microwave to heat them up when they get cold. How sad is that? I can’t think of anything worse than reheated coffee. I mean, the stuff is cheap enough so why not just get a fresh cup?

I have to shake my head at all those coffee junkies who line up at the Timmies drive-thru to get their daily fix, and wonder why they simply can’t get up 5 minutes earlier, make their own coffee? Better yet, why not get up Ã?½ hr earlier and have some breakfast with the kids while they make their school lunches? Quality time with the family, elimination of school breakfast programs, kids slimming down by eating healthy lunches rather than junk food and cheaper, better coffee for you. Maybe if they did, the divorce rate wouldn’t be so high in this country.
What a win, win, win situation.