Roll up the Rim

I suppose that if you live long enough, everything changes. I have lived long enough to be in the midst of change almost constantly. Some things (most) change for the good, some seem to change just because people are ready for a change to anything but what we had. Some change for the worst, and some things that changed for the better will eventually swing back from where they had come from. I don’t particularly like change but change doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass what I like or don’t like.

            If you take the time to read all of my blogs over the years you will find that I mentioned Tim Horton’s coffee shop in 69 of them. In twelve blogs I have mentioned the contest/promotion  they have every year called Roll Up The Rim. You can win cars, bicycles, TV’s and millions of coffees, donuts and other food items that they sell. Well, you can win cars, bicycles and TV’s, but all I have ever won is coffee and donuts. I am a simple man with simple tastes, so I am good with small prizes every now and then. It gives me the feeling that I have been born under a lucky star. Well, until this year.

 

            It turns out that since the profits that Tim Horton’s parent company made last year were less than expected (one percent less) the powers that be decided that the Roll Up The Rim promotion was dated and didn’t appeal to the younger generation. I think that means that the younger generation have to take their attention away from their phones and use their thumbs to roll up a rim. I’ve read that one of the programs Tim’s honchos are toying with is an earned point program which can be redeemed for product. It just doesn’t seem that it would be nearly as much fun as the thrill of rim rolling.

            Everything is about profit and increasing that profit every year. You can’t maximise profit if you are giving merchandise away.

            I will survive…probably.

            I don’t know what I am going to do with my “rim roller”, it is a very, very, very specific tool. I guess that now it will become one of those things that the future generations will look at and wonder what it could have been for and why on earth we needed to roll up rims anyways.

 

            An era has ended and for me a little joy has left the world. I can still get paper cups somewhere and whenever I feel the urge I will just Roll up the Rim and give myself a coffee.  

Looking For Food

Well, the holiday season is over, the tree and decorations have been put back in their closet for another ten months and here in Calgary we are in the midst of a week long deep freeze. Yay…

In years past when I was young and had more of my life ahead of me than behind me I would be prepared to spend 3 – 4 hours a day making sure that the customers on my route got their bills and letters from aunt Matilda in a timely fashion. I was known to say when asked about the weather “Well, we do live in Canada after all!” or “Yeah…. But it’s a dry cold.” What else was I to say, I had to somehow justify going out in God awful weather conditions with a smile literally and figuratively frozen on my face. I lived through it because I had to. Now, I am content to watch the weather channel for any lessening of the cold, drink my hot tea and occasionally venture out to Tim Horton’s to watch the working people freezing their asses off. It warms my heart.

I do wonder why my ancestors picked Canada as a place to move to. Most were from England and some were from Greece both of which are much milder than Canada. Maybe they didn’t know what they were in for of perhaps they were lied to by the government employees who had a quota of gullible souls they needed to fill. I can just imaging the conversation.

“So what is the weather like in Canada?”

“Well, you would be hard pressed to find a nicer spring, summer or autumn anywhere in the world.”

“That sounds great, what about the winter?”

“Oh…winter is the shortest season and it is nice to have a month or two or three or four to relax and take a break from the hard work you will be doing the rest of the year.”

“Hard work? How hard? Say, is that why you are giving away land?”

Yes, my great grandparents didn’t do their homework or life was so shitty back home that -40°C seemed like a good idea.

 

I watched Buster go outside this morning to do his business. Let me tell you that his business took far less time than it normally does. There was no barking at the back fence, the side fence or the front gate. There was a very small amount of sniffing to find the perfect spot to pee and he just couldn’t get back into the house and curl up on the bed fast enough. While I was watching him I wondered how his distant ancestors handled this kind of brutal cold weather.

I suspect that they would be holed up in a cozy little den that was relatively warm and would only venture out to do their business with a minimum of fuss. Mind you, they wouldn’t have a full dish of food and water waiting for them when they came back in so I guess they would have to venture out hunting every couple of days. That would suck because all of the other animals would be hunkering down trying to stay warm and would be hard to find. Buster has it pretty good and I guess I do too now that I am retired.

Well, time for me to go out and clear away the snow and while I am at it I guess I will be thankful that Busters ancestors aren’t out and about looking for food.