Thursday, December 1, 2011

An Announcement

I know, I know.   After such a long silence, you would think I'd have something more newsworthy to blog about than this:
But this has been Red Lake's big excitement for the past few weeks.  We have a Tim Horton's!

The excitement is probably hard to comprehend if you're 1.)not from Canada and 2.)not from a tiny, remote, Northern town like Red Lake.

First of all, all Canadians know that Tim Horton's (more affectionately called 'Timmy's') is a national symbol of...  Well, I'm not sure what it's a symbol of, but it's something very important.  (Can any Canadians help me out here?)  It's part of the Canadian identity.  I'm not joking.  I know there are a few in the States, but it's very, very Canadian and we're proud of our Tim Horton's. 

Secondly, having a Tim Horton's in Red Lake is extremely strange.  It's very weird for me and I'm only a Red Laker of 3 1/2 years.  I've heard the lifers talk about how strange it is for them.  Most people in Red Lake "go out of town."  It is very common to take a day trip to Kenora (3 hours away) or even to Winnipeg (5 hours away), though that is often an overnight trip.  People go much more often than we do and it's for shopping, doctor's appointments, concerts, etc.  I don't know how to explain it except that it's just part of the Red Lake culture.  At first I was surprised to run into Red Lakers at the Dryden Walmart (2 hours away), but I soon realized that it is nothing surprising at all and I am just as at-risk for embarassment shopping for underwear in the Dryden Walmart as I was at a Walmart in Goshen.  (I know, I'm 35- I should be past that.)  Anyway, my point is that Tim Horton's was always an "out of town" thing.  People always try to make a stop there for donuts and coffee.  It's just what you do.  And now we have one of our very own!  And when we go in there, we feel like we're out of town!  Except that you have to have conversations with everyone you know in there...

So here we are the first Saturday morning our very own Tim Horton's was open:


Do I dare to tell how many times I've been there since it opened 2 weeks ago?  Okay. 4.  It's just too exciting to stay away. 

1 comment:

Twila said...

Yea! Wil it now take away the specialness of when your out of town? either way enjoy!
mom H.