Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Slushie

Walked into one of the growing legion of North Mart like stores popping up around town to buy Cathy a coffee last night. At the same time as I'm pouring hot Colombian coffee for Cathy, two Inuit gentleman are also at the long row of beverage machines. They go up ahead of me carrying their drinks - a pair of large grape slushies. After paying they exited the store and walked across the parking lot, drinking away.

Temperature outside at that time? -19C, wind chill, -31C. Which is relatively balmy considering the temperatures last week were regularly hovering around -50C with wind chill. And I've seen kids walking outside with slushies in temperatures colder than -40C.

Still, it always amuses me. I'm not the biggest lover of hot beverages in the world. Even at the these temps, I rarely drink coffee or hot chocolate. But I would not be actively seeking iced beverages for my walk outside.

But different strokes for different folks...

Last Five
1. Silvio - Bob Dylan
2. Monkey gone to heaven - Pixies
3. Spark - Tori Amos*
4. Long time comin' (live) - Bruce Springsteen
5. Dirty knife - Neko Case

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting dichotomy. Whereas the narrative discusses freezing cold beverages, enjoyed in even more freezing cold climes, my eye was caught by the preamble.

Cathy. And how lucky she is.

Did you manage to keep the coffee hot enough on the journey home?! Good man.

Regards,
etc.

Anonymous said...

My favourite is when kids buy jumbo Mr Freeze in winter and walk outside eating it without mittens -- maybe they just pull their coat sleeves down a bit.

I drive to work everyday wearing a down-filled coat and sealskin mitts, and I am in awe of the kids in the playground at school in the morning. It's like they didn't get the memo it's cold.

towniebastard said...

I don't think I'm anything that remarkable for picking her up a coffee on my way home. Just one of those basic acts of kindness you do for your spouse a dozen times a day without thinking about it.

But hey, if it gets me brownie points...bonus.