Wall Street and Its Impact on Canadian Breakfast

My local Tim Hortons has stopped selling croissants (both butter and cheese) – an early victim of the current credit crisis? Or they may have been just sold out. I didn’t bother to ask. If they’re losing money with each doughnut they bake and/or microwave, it's fair to think flaky pastry treats would be one of the first to go – maybe even second behind roast beef sandwiches.

A quick question. Were hot lunch tables, cost-cutting, and a perceived but misguided opportunity for growth really worth the $1.95-billion class-action lawsuit? Microwaved doughnuts. Are you kidding me?

Remember the good old days, Tim? Coffee shop interiors to match the wood paneling in your uncle’s basement. Ashtrays built into the tables. The smell of baked (that’s right, baked) goods. Classic coffee mugs. There was a local feeling to each shop. When the locations were few and far between, the local Tim Hortons was a good place to get a sense of the neighbourhood. Local culture bled into the store. It wasn’t modern or slick. I’m starting to miss the time before the franchise boom.

Is it impossible to drive a few minutes on an Ontario highway without passing a Tim Hortons sign? It calls you with delicious promises of sugar and caffeine. Timmy tempts you, perhaps even dares you to come on in or drive on through for some of their sweet, sweet stuff. The coffee, to this day, is still awesome. It helped on many late night drives from town to town, up and down that dial.

The original Tim Hortons spirit may have been lost, or it could all be in my head. Nostalgia matters, but only to an extent. Back in the day, I thought the original "Knight Rider" series was a clever, imaginative and cutting edge TV drama. Watching it now - well, the memory of the show's depth doesn't really mesh with the reality.

Photo by markolson.