Everything Closes Everywhere

On this Saturday morning, which is very cold, I will drive to the United Church in the little hamlet of Ashton, to pick up the apple pies that I ordered a few weeks ago. Actually, I ordered four pies, all apple. Two are probably for this weekend and two for the freezer.

Then, I shall go to the local butcher shop for the fresh turkey breast that we have also pre-ordered. As usual, Sue will pre-cook the bird today for our little family dinner tomorrow. I'll help where I can, but she's knows what she is doing, and I don't know what she, I, or anybody is doing . . . at any time.

You see, it is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, which we hold at an eminently sensible time of year amidst the beautiful colour of October and harvest time.

This weekend also marks the time when everything everywhere closes.

Obviously, I exaggerate, but truck food vendors will be as scarce as hens teeth  turkeys come Tuesday morning. If you are a cottage owner, you will have likely closed it up for the winter. Your favourite provincial park may be closed, as well as that rest stop on a rural highway — or at least the bathrooms may be locked tightly. Any attraction outside of urban areas, like the  museum in tiny Middleville, will have put out its Closed for the Winter sign.

So it was that we headed to the Cheeky Chippy food truck in the town nearest to us. They make the very best fish & chips. If you can see to the truck (below), they pride themselves in doing it in the British style (see the Union Jack flag on the truck), which is also really the Canadian style, but the British connection is good marketing.

We drove up late Thursday afternoon for supper, and that ↑ was the lineup ahead of me. I asked the man in the foreground if that was the line for orders or pickup: "Pickup, and it will be awhile."

It's just a two-person operation in there, so even ordering goes slowly, never mind the actual time it takes to cook the food.

You see, the lineup was that long because they too will be closed for the winter after this weekend. But the food is so good that everyone wanted one last dish. Of course, the line might have been extra long because they are also selling-up and moving onto a new gig next year.

We left, and we returned the next day for lunch. The line was only half as long, but it still took a long time both to order and then to wait for it to be ready.

It was delicious, though, even if eating fish & chips in the car is not the easiest nor most sophisticated thing to do. I mean to say that eating a meal that requires a knife and fork in the car is a lot more difficult that gnawing on a burger or nibbling on a sandwich or donut. It's not my favourite thing to do, but I make an exception for this particular food truck.