Thing 300 Toll House Trek

After a long and irritating day at work and the sixty kilometre or so round trip commute that comes with it, there's nothing I hate more than the slow and painful realisation that I've still got a Project Thing to do. On days such as these, I comfort myself with the knowledge that there's millions of tiny little things that I've never done, and they can be achieved quickly and easily without hassle, so I can spend a night watching cartoons, movies or staring at the fish-tank in the kitchen; happy as a pig in... well, you know.

On the ever dwindling list of easily achievable Things that are within striking distance of my house, better known as The Sluggery, was the enchanting and delectable treat of a Toll House Cookie. Famous from an episode of Friends I once saw, and plastered all over McDonald's advertising boards for the last month or so, I promised myself a nice little treat: Easy Thing for Project; sweet thing for my chubby tummy.

There's a McDonald's just five minutes of a drive from my gaff. Sweet. I can stop off on my way home. The problem with that Micky D's is that it's popular. Very popular. So loads of people go there. The problem with advertising is that it works. It works very well. This combination is not good for me, because it results in a lack of Toll House cookies...

Not to fear, there's another pair of Golden Arches in Limerick City centre. Smack on Cruise's Street. It might be the McDonald's with the greatest drunks to staff ratio in the entire world, but it's not that late in the day, and sure isn't town only a hop skip and a jump from The Crescent. Remember what the problem with advertising is? Well apparently it's no different for drunks than it is for the sober demographic. No Toll House cookies for me in town.

I'm a little miffed, but hey, there's a McDonald's in the Jetland, on the Ennis Road, and that's a short haul from town. It's a bit out of the way for getting back to The Sluggery, but the fish-tank isn't going anywhere, regardless of the schemes and machinations of the Catfish (that's not a blog name, we've got our very own evil scheming catfish in the tank). Guess where else didn't have Toll House cookies?

Now I'm a horrendously stubborn man. And at this point, it's no longer about the Project. It's not about the fish-tank. It's not even about the cookie. It's about me getting what I want. I want it, and I want it now. So I'm having it. Next stop: Shannon Town. That's right. The place where I work. The place I drove to that morning, then drove home from just over an hour and a bit ago. Shannon Town. I put on the angry music in the iphone. Gangster rap and Metallica and what have you.

Guess what McDonald's did have my Toll House cookie? Oh yeah. Get in there Shannon town. I sat there in the "restaurant" munching happily on my first ever Toll House Cookie, and sipped on a latte ('cos I'm fancy me) and turned on the not angry music. Rockabilly and a bit of Jack Johnson. Then I realised I was in Shannon...

Stupid Project...