If it’s Friday…
A couple little notes.
1: Tim Hortons is now open in Morden. Net effect: the one in Winkler won’t be quite as busy. Both seem to be doing pretty good business though. Seems that here in Canada, opening a Tim Hortons franchise is a pretty safe business risk. Pretty much a license to print money in these parts, where the coffeeshop culture reigns supreme.
2: My inside door handle on my car doesn’t work anymore. Took it in to the shop this morning and they showed that it had broken off. Might be costly. At any rate, at the moment I have to wind down the window in order to get out of the car. This is a massive pain, especially in the wintertime. The upside to this is that if I practice, I can become one of the Dukes of Hazzard now. All I need is a horn playing Dixie and a paint job on the car…
Bonus note: Christmas cards are coming along at a decent pace. We hope to have all our cards out by Monday. (To which Kelly will rebut that all HER cards are out, and it’s me who is slowing the process down. And she’d be right.)
Alex,
As a resident of the “South” finding the song played from the “Dukes of Hazzard” could be easier than one thinks. I bet the internet could help, but I wouldn’t suggest it in the ’sub-zero’ weather you have up there.
Even here in the “South” lately it has gotten cold, about 0 degrees C last week. But sad to say we are supposed to have it up to 25 degrees C by Monday. I would only like snow by Christmas.
Enjoy the winter time, hope you may get to your in-laws in the near future!!!
Thanks for your blog!!!
December 16th, 2006 | #
The franchise fee for a Tim Hortons is a cool 1 million plus the building costs. It costs 20 cents more for a large coffee in Stettler, AB than in North Battleford, SK because of the added labour costs in booming Alberta.
You gotta see alotta coffee to pay off that 1 mill.
December 16th, 2006 | #
True, but have you seen the lineups at these Timmies?
December 16th, 2006 | #
Most Canadians are thoroughly dependent for THs for their very survival. (In fact, I could go for a doughnut right now…) It supplements the medical system, you see. That million is practically chump change.
December 16th, 2006 | #
I usually get one/day when I’m at work @ the Tim’s in Stetter, I get a kick outta walking past the drive through line, getting my order and then walking past the same people still waiting in line, maybe they should work off some of the donut calories by walking in and out of the store!!
Ps I’d probably use the drive through except the semi doesn’t fit very well, hard to make those tight corners with 2 trailers!!
December 17th, 2006 | #
As an American who has visited Canada about half a dozen times, I would love, love, love to see a Tim Horton’s here in Sherman, Illinois. I even have a wonderful unoccupied, high-traffic corner in mind. Well, high-traffic by Sherman (pop. 3000) standards anyway.
December 17th, 2006 | #
Sorry… living in London, the only thing I know about Tim Horton’s is the advertising in arenas when I record the ice hockey matches that TV5 shows at 2am on Tuesdays. I thought it was a brand of hockey stick. It’s… what… like a coffee & donut and convenience shop like Wawa in Southern New Jersey? Any relation to Tim Horton the Toronto & NYR defenseman?
December 18th, 2006 | #
Wow. Write a post about Tim Hortons and the world reads your blog…
First: It is Tim Hortons, as much as that hurts me to write. They corporately nuked the genitive possessive case in favour of a plural about 5 or 6 years ago in an effort to create one name for French and English alike.
Tim Hortons is a coffee and donut shop which also serves other light pastries and light lunches. It is a cash-only establishment (don’t dare trying to use debit, check cards, or credit cards at Tim’s… they’ll laugh at you and give your coffee to someone else).
Tim’s built its name in Canada on providing fast service, good coffee, and an instantly recognizable name. The first restaurants were built in Hamilton, ON by Tim Horton the star defenseman and Ron Joyce, his business partner. After Horton’s untimely death, Joyce gradually took over complete control of the chain, which is when it skyrocketed.
Tim’s has some great product, but, more than that, it has carved out a unique niche in Canadian culture. Tim Hortons is the McDonald’s of Canada, really. It is ubiquitous and it describes the ethos of the people.
“A double-double and an ice cap, please…”
December 18th, 2006 | #
Note: Tim’s has both debit and credit card machines now. At least the one at Stettler, AB does, a co-worker bought me breakfast on his Visa last week.
December 18th, 2006 | #
Todd: That’s madness. Tim’s has never had them in order to keep prices down and speed up… maybe that’s why the coffee costs more in Stettler?
December 18th, 2006 | #
Wow, Alex. I always knew you are a fount of knowledge, albeit obscure and off-beat, but I never knew you and Kelly were hopeless addicts like your dear old aunt and mother!!! I myself only go twice a day, the second time with no less than 6 extras for my colleagues….. teachers love Timmy’s. Perhaps he should be the patron saint of teachers…. we certainly use him to make it through to Christmas holidays!!!! God bless…… you might get a card from us… I’m still working on them.
December 18th, 2006 | #
I’m not a hopeless addict. Yet. It’s just one of the only places around here to get a cheap doughnut. I do like ice caps, though… normally. I’m not quite a brand snob though; I’ll get an iced cappucchino anywhere I can find one.
Tim Hortons is *nothing* like Wawa!!
December 18th, 2006 | #
I notice, Kelly, that you don’t absolve Alex from the “hopeless addict” category. I am glad, however, that you have not fallen victim to the bean. Keep well!
December 19th, 2006 | #
Actually, I’m at about one coffee a week, unless I’m offered coffee during a home visit. With Kelly not addicted, I don’t tend to have much either. We were given two coffeemakers as wedding gifts and at our current rate of usage we will have one to donate to a museum when our estate is liquidated 70 or 80 years from now…
December 19th, 2006 | #
Uh, now I’m totally disappointed in you both!!! Where exactly did that bean gene go?
December 20th, 2006 | #
I like the taste of coffee to some extent, I just choose not to be addicted to it.
December 20th, 2006 | #
I like coffee but at this moment, as on of Frank’s students is the grandson of Tim Horton, we are not really Timmies-minded any more. Turned off of it, frankly. I have only had 1 coffee since becoming pregnant and that was an instant coffee last week that I quite enjoyed. I’m looking forward to gettting back to the “bean”! We like the “Donut Diner” brand coffee much better! Nicer flavour and no aftertaste!
Side note: you know what works as a very nice flavour addition to coffee (I don’t know if you’d be able to partake in this one Al, there may be cinnamon): EGGNOG! Yummy!
December 20th, 2006 | #