When you cross the border, you go from the Land of Starbucks to the Land of Tim Horton’s.
This isn’t a terribly original thought, nor is it entirely accurate, still there’s something here.
There’s something reassuring about a Tim Horton’s coffee shop, some kind of gemütlichkeit that you just don’t find in a Starbucks. Although arguments can be made that the coffee is indistinguishable, the essence of the two coffee shops is undeniably different.
Whereas Starbucks tend to be spacious and neat, when you’re in a Tim Horton’s, you feel like you’re in, well, a coffee shop. And whereas Starbucks feels modern and hip, Tim Horton’s feels like a place where real people go. And whereas (forgive me) Starbucks hipsters seem turned in on themselves, the people at Time Horton’s hold the door open for you.
Now without doubt this is making much of nothing. This might all be hooey, but I’m just sayin’ what I’m sayin’.
So I was not at all disappointed when the fair and industrious Trudy asked Khadija if she knew of a Tim Horton’s downtown. And I was not at all disappointed when Khadija directed Dad to a Tim Horton’s one block away from Confederation Park. And Trudy and I were quite content sitting in warmth in the corner of that place sipping our creamy coffees and gazing out the plate glass window as Ottawans started their winter Friday morning.
It was a perfect way to start the day, and I am certain it wouldn’t have felt quite the same if we had been sitting under the green mermaid.