When you spend time living in a foreign country, you have the opportunity to view the day to day lives of the local citizenry from a vantage point that can be enlightening at times, and confusing at others. Case in point: Here I am, temporarily doing time in Boston MA., and there are some aspects of daily life in this place that are perplexing to me, such as the absolute overkill on the ratio of Dunkin Donut franchises compared to the local population. Near where I am typing this, there is a road through a suburban part of town that has 3 Dunkin Donuts shops within the space of about a mile. I am not exagerating. Donuts are everywhere in this town, and the places are doing well enough to stay in business, so there is obviously a whole donut subculture in this town that you just don't find where I come from back in America. Now, Dunkin Donuts ain't bad, lousy coffee, but OK donut wise. However, today there occured a shift in the donut culture of these parts that is truly seismic in effect: on this day, March 16, 2004, the very first Krispy Kreme donut shop opened up in Boston. The town will never be the same. I went by there this evening (in the middle of a blizzard with Jacob G.) to check the place out. I'd driven by earlier today and there was a way long line of cars for drive thru and people inside as well, and it was the same story tonight. The place was really packed. They must have had 30 people working behind the counter, no kidding, its a big place. We got some donuts, I tried the coffee, we sat down and people watched for about 15 minutes, and then we split. Of course, the plain glazed donuts at Krispy Kreme slay those lead (pronounced "led") imposters from Dunkin Donuts, but the other verdict was that the Dunkin "curlers" were still better than the Krispy "curlers", and that was from an expert curler afficianado. I do know that the coffee was tons better than the thin brown swill that they cup out at the Dunkin Donuts joints, so thats a big plus in their favor. Plus, they stay open till 1 am for walk in and 24 hours for drive thru. This is a big deal in a town where most retail places, including many sit down restaurants and coffee places close up shop before 9 pm. Anyhow, that was the big happenings in this part of the planet today.
Tomorrow, March 17th, is St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick is called the Enlightener of Ireland. He was the Bishop of Armagh, and his place in Celtic history is obviously monumental. He was a big time Saint recognized by the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church as well. He was kidnapped when he was about 15, sold into slavery, but eventually escaped and went back to Ireland where, the rest, as they say, is history. He wrote some amazing spiritual poetry, and was the real deal. He was like a walking sermon, a living bible, and the people there recognized this in him and their lives were changed as they could see Christ living in him. I'm sure there is a ton of stuff online about him, check it out.
A few more travel observations...I was lamenting the high price of gasoline today, $1.79 a gallon here. I tried to remember the lowest price I have ever paid for gas, and I think that a long time ago in the Reagan era, I paid 51.9 cents a gallon in Warrensburg, Mo. Thats when I was driving the 63 Ford Fairlane, blue 4 door sedan with a 260 v-8, just like the one driven by...sheriff Andy Taylor in Mayberry!
I got an e-mail a few weeks back claiming that the retail price of gas could be forced down by boycotting the two largest oil companies in the world, which I think are Gulf and British Petroleum, I'll have to double check. But this e-mail said that these two companies supply enough of the gasoline market that if they get hit in the pocket book and are forced to lower prices to attract business it would have an industry wide effect. Does anybody know if this is accurate?
Also, as far as I can determine from my drives back and forth from America to the east coast, the real America begins somewhere around Columbus, Ohio as you drive in from the east. After that point you begin to see grain elevators, Sonics, real truck stops, etc. And the price of gas is lower too.
be good.
Tomorrow, March 17th, is St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick is called the Enlightener of Ireland. He was the Bishop of Armagh, and his place in Celtic history is obviously monumental. He was a big time Saint recognized by the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church as well. He was kidnapped when he was about 15, sold into slavery, but eventually escaped and went back to Ireland where, the rest, as they say, is history. He wrote some amazing spiritual poetry, and was the real deal. He was like a walking sermon, a living bible, and the people there recognized this in him and their lives were changed as they could see Christ living in him. I'm sure there is a ton of stuff online about him, check it out.
A few more travel observations...I was lamenting the high price of gasoline today, $1.79 a gallon here. I tried to remember the lowest price I have ever paid for gas, and I think that a long time ago in the Reagan era, I paid 51.9 cents a gallon in Warrensburg, Mo. Thats when I was driving the 63 Ford Fairlane, blue 4 door sedan with a 260 v-8, just like the one driven by...sheriff Andy Taylor in Mayberry!
I got an e-mail a few weeks back claiming that the retail price of gas could be forced down by boycotting the two largest oil companies in the world, which I think are Gulf and British Petroleum, I'll have to double check. But this e-mail said that these two companies supply enough of the gasoline market that if they get hit in the pocket book and are forced to lower prices to attract business it would have an industry wide effect. Does anybody know if this is accurate?
Also, as far as I can determine from my drives back and forth from America to the east coast, the real America begins somewhere around Columbus, Ohio as you drive in from the east. After that point you begin to see grain elevators, Sonics, real truck stops, etc. And the price of gas is lower too.
be good.
posted by mwc at 7:21 PM
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