Every weekday morning, I follow pretty much the same routine to work. For variety I’ll take a slightly different route on occassion, but overall the experience remains somewhat static. This holds true for the daily Tim Hortons drive-thru as well; for every morning I’m “greeted” exactly the same way with “Welcome to Tim Hortons can I take your order please!!” barked at me through a speaker box by someone who has perhaps said that line once too many times - about 20 years ago. Once I’ve placed my order which, admittedly varies about as much as the rest of my daily routine, I proceed to the window, get my coffee and off I go. End of story.

Then the other day, my adventures with “drive-thru” service began, for this time when I pulled up to the window I was greated with a “Top of the mornin’ to ya!” by an individual I’d not encountered before. “Top of the mornin’ to ya!” ??? What’s up with that? Where am I? Ireland? This was followed up with “I’ll have your coffee for ya in a jiffy!”.

Ok, if I WERE in Ireland or if at the very least this individual had managed to deliver this enthusiastic flare with an Irish accent, I could’ve dismissed it. Instead, it comes across as strange and phony and it leaves me wondering just what really goes on behind that drive-thru window anyway!

Later the same day. I unwittingly witnessed a taste of what indeed does go on behind the scenes at a drive-thru in a fast food restaurant. I had arrived at about 7pm and decided to go inside to place my food order. I’m not sure why I went inside rather than going through the drive-thru for I don’t recall it being a conscious decision at the time and “Top of the mornin’!” was a distant memory at that time of day.

The place was empty for a couple 13 year old boys sitting down enjoying their cheese fries, and a woman who had just finished placing an order. I placed my order and stood by the rail where I observed the following.

The guy working the drive-thru window was complaining to no one in particular that his pen wasn’t working. “Odd” I thought, but quickly realised he was attempting to coax one of the female employees to rush to his aide with a fresh pen. rolls eyes One eventually does and as she walks away he purposely drops the pen exclaiming “ooops! I dropped it!”.

No one pays him attention.

The guy then looks at a chart and then tries yet again to engage one of the female employees in conversation with “Looks like you’re working with me this weekend eh Sarah?”. The girl gives him a quick glance and shrugs and walks to another part of the counter. No dice!

I should mention, this guy isn’t a 16 year old working evenings at his first job. No, this guy must be 25 and from the looks of things is destined to work the drive-thru for some time to come….

A car pulls around and enters the drive through where “guy” takes the order. He has his headphones on so no one else is privy to what the customer is ordering, but it soon becomes apparent to us all.

Customer is presumed to say: “I’d like an order of tacos please…”

Drive-thru guy: Turns around to face the the female employees working at the counter and says with a wink and hands on his hips says - “Will that be hard……or soft shell?”

“Top of the mornin’ to ya” indeed! I grab my order and leave with haste, trying not to ralf on the way out…

Yesterday, I received an email which I believe to be first picture submission made by someone to which I have had absolutely no previous association with. What makes this so significant is that up until now, all submissions received for the site have all been made by those whom I have a connection with in some way. This truly unsolicited picture submission marks a real milestone in this sites’ short lil history! Thanks! *Look for this picture to make the main page in the next day or so - once I’ve determined that the current highlight has had a sufficient run.

In a bit of a departure from our usual weekly lunch at a local Indian restaurant (aaahhh, curry!!!), a couple friends and I decided to try a local Moroccan place instead. If you’ve not tried Moroccan food, it was a nice change from the ordinary North American fare I’m so accustomed to, and quite frankly rather bored with. Much the same goes with music these days, which is perhaps why I keep finding myself repeating a certain Punjabi dance mix over and over again in iTunes lately. confused look

The Moroccan appetiser we had was called a “breewat”. I was surprised to find it looked much like a Chinese or Thai spring roll, only it wasn’t served with any sauce; plum, peanut or otherwise. I was even more surprised when I bit into one, for it tasted just like someone had taken the contents of a scotch pie, wrapped it up in light pastry and deep fried it! Yum! If it weren’t for getting full, I could eat these things all day! But really, if there EVER was a candidate for HP sauce, this would be it - pitty I left my bottle on my desk back at work. Let this be a lesson to us all…

My friend “Lamprey” just sent this in:

“There will be a saucy new star at this year’s World Snooker Masters Tournament after Jimmy ‘the Whirlwind’ White announced he will be changing his name to Brown in honour of sponsors HP Sauce.” - Snooker’s Jimmy White to change his name to Brown

Now THAT’S news folks!

It’s turned out to be one of those weeks at work where, by the end of the day I’m simply mentally exhausted. It’s a bad rut to get into and in my case, requires some immediate action. Today I’ve been treating the mid-winter blahs with a standard issue 28oz 7-11 Pepsi Slurpee (with 2 pink straws in) and by listening to some Tree Wave…repetitively.

Tree Wave is an American band which uses obsolete computer equipment as their main intstruments. The gear used includes a Commodore 64, an Atari 2600 and even a dot matrix printer (among others)! I’ve always been interested in creating music with obsolete computer equipment like this. If someone out there has some pointers on how to get me started with my Apple IIgs - please write me!

In todays HP news, I heard a local CBC radio personality mention the sauce during a mid-day radio program while describing the crest on the bottle. Worth writing in asking for a piccie I wonder??