Sonic

Posted on by Ian C.

Today I joined the friendly folks from Mass Motoring Club for a trip to the newly opened Sonic “fast food restaurant” in Danvers – glad for the great company, because the food … not so much!

We all met up at Jordan’s Furniture in Reading – which is a great place to hang out even if you don’t need to buy furniture of TVs! Pete came in his fancy new-to-him BMW Z4, a pretty sweet ride 🙂

Eventually it was time to drive up to Sonic, a short drive but to join a LONG queue! Somehow, the MINIs snuck their way in to some parking spaces alongside the Sonic, while I “hid” my Q5 behind the nearby hotel …

And we all joined the “people queue” – you wait in line to order at one of the two order panels under the canopy, where there is also some seating. No such thing as going inside the building to a counter. Not sure this will work very well in the winter time – but I suppose you can instead stay in your car and join one of two VERY long and slow queues to order that way (either ordering and then picking up and leaving, or eventually making it to a parking spot where you order and food is brought to you)

When we joined this queue, we didn’t realize three things … it would be TWO HOURS before we got food (partly due to the order system failing for half an hour), the food wasn’t worth a two hour wait, and some people just can’t understand what queues are all about, and feel that they should just be able to go straight to the front! But, we did queue – luckily having lots to chat about.

Even when you get to the front, to the order display and the “press button and wait for friendly voice” order system, you’re not done with waiting. Poor Brian stood there maybe 15 minutes pondering what to order and waiting, before finally he cracked and headed off to Essex Seafood instead (in truth, a far better choice!)

But in the end, I also got to the order display, and was able to see what all the fuss was about … and I have to say, it’s just madness!
I ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster, Chili Cheese Tater Tots, a Peanut Butter Sundae, and a drink – the Chili Cheese Tots were OK, and the Toast of the Cheeseburger Toaster was quite refreshing – but the burger meat itself was no better than McDonalds, and the Sundae and drink basically identical to the McDonalds equivalents.
So in the end, you’re queuing for two hours so that your food is brought to you on wheels instead of handed to you over the counter. Sorry, not good enough!

I’m sure that some time, the queues will go down. And doubtless, parked at a spot and ordering out the window, then having the food brought to you, would be cool (though I don’t eat inside any car I own!), but I have no need to do it again any time soon.

However, it was a great day out with MINI friends 🙂

British Design Classics

Posted on by Ian C.

Earlier this year, the UK’s Royal Mail brought out a special British Design Classics stamp collection … I love good design and this set was great (featuring Concorde, the “Routemaster” London double-decker bus, the iconic red Phone box, and the London Underground map, in addition to Mini) – and with Mini featured prominently I had to purchase for my MINI collection!

There’s lots to choose from, including a set of postcards and of course, the stamps themselves; I also got a “first day cover” set of franked stamps – with a cool Austin Mini steering wheel design. It’s all accompanied with some nice booklets with background info on the designs:

(you can see full size scans of this here: side 1, side 2)

But perhaps my favourite part of the collection is the full sheet of Mini stamps, with lots of little “Mini moment” panels:

 

Specially for Robert – but don’t tell anyone!

Posted on by Ian C.

It’s a secret! It’s MINI Confidential! But first, you need to read The Awesomeness Of Small! It’s a quick read, but there’s a secret!

Now, get the glasses, head over to your email, and view the recent MINI USA email through them. It’s quite easy to read by eye – but hard to photograph … still, this is what you see:

WELL DONE, you’re getting close, but there’s one thing left to do.
VISIT: MINIconfidential.com and follow these instructions carefully.
1. Click the bright blue book lower right
2. Click the yellow book upper left
3. Click the white book middle right

So, head over to MINIconfidential.com and see what you see, if you do the right stuff …

 

What’s in there once you get in? No idea, haven’t been inspired to check it out yet … but judging by Motoringfile (where Robert’s comment triggered this post), it might be worth checking out, if you’re interested in what’s next in MINI world …