In my mind’s eye, it was the summer of ‘86 for a hot minute. The summer that we (my college buddies) all worked away. I would walk to work in my uniform (not something we ever did in Dublin). It was a short walk from Chestnut St. to the back entrance of the car park on Pepperell, pedestrian access only, which was fine as I didn't drive back then.
I used to work an early shift most days, so for my break, I would get an Egg McMuffin, a coffee, an OJ, and an apple danish - steamed to just the right temp. But today, as I stood looking for apple danish on the menu - even though I knew it wasn't there, I had to admit that it’s all changed.
The blue & white polyester uniforms are long gone, replaced with T-shirts and sweatpants. We didn’t wear headsets for drive-thru back in the day, so we had to stay close tot the window! Some of my best memories were the customers that would comment on my accent, asking me where I was from when they arrived at the window to collect their order.
Behind the counter, the bin is gone and in its place there are multiple coffee machines making ‘fancy’ coffees - Cappuccinos, Americanos, Mochas, and Lattes. Back in ‘86 it was just straight up coffee or tea.
Bob Sirtonsky was the Store Manager then. I don’t recall working many shifts with Bob but I do remember that he promised to take me for a drive his Corvette. Bob was President of the Corvette club (of NS, or was it local to Halifax?). I never did get to go for that drive. Maybe because I spent too much time hanging out with another manager who drove a Camaro Z28! I was also sad to hear of Bob’s passing when I reached out to him years later, planning a trip to Halifax and still hoping for that drive!!
It was a lifetime ago and back then I briefly thought about coming back to Halifax to live, but talked myself out of it within a year. I was young, was still in college, and part of me was very much anchored in Dublin. Back then, if you had told me that 20 years later, I would be living, working and raising a family in Fall River with my Irish husband, I would have laughed out loud at the absurdity of that. Its a funny old world, eh?
Footnote: That summer of '86 was a great one, I enjoyed the independence of living on my own but with the comfort of family just a 15-min walk away; I got to know my two Canadian brothers; my bestie (Orla) came to visit and we went to Boston & NYC (this was a few years before Susie moved to NYC) and I spent a few weeks being driven around in an orange Z28, blasting Genesis Invisible Touch. It was also the summer that Top Gun (yes the original one) came out - saw it at The Oxford Theatre (which closed in 2017). And even though I still have photos (prints, not digital images) from that summer, the funny thing is there are none of McD's or me in my uniform. Sigh!
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