Hook’em When They’re Young

McDonald’s knows all about that one.

In my case, though, it’s all about Tim Horton’s.

Back in the seventies, when I was but a wee lad, my parents had a train set in the rec room (I thought it was the “wreck-room”, but I was pretty well behaved, so it never got wrecked). I used to love playing with it. Spent many hours sending those little engines round and round. And I can still remember that oily electrical smell that came out of the control box.

Anyways…. there’s another part to this little anecdote.

I can’t find any pictures, but do you remember when Tim Horton’s donut boxes were designed to look like a restaurant? In each “window” you could see people happily eating Tim’s donuts and drinking Tim’s coffee.

Well, I had one of those boxes… and I kept it beside the tracks. And I’d stop the train beside the “Tim’s” so that the passengers could go get their coffee and donuts.

Of course, now, when I think about it, I know that the scales are all wrong and that the train would be taller than the restaurant… but back in the day, it didn’t seem to matter – it was just a thrill to have the train stop in front of the restaurant.

I’m not a coffee drinker. And I try to avoid the donuts. But, you know, I still have this little warm spot in my heart for “Tim Horton’s”… and it goes back to that stupid donut box beside the train set.

From the perspective of someone who’s now spent decades in the advertising business, I think that’s pretty cool.