Waffle House     12-15-06

   This Friday morning I decided I would take the MG to work. As most of you know I have a 1974 MGBGT. This car quickly became my coolest car (don't tell the others) so I like to drive it to fix copiers out of on an occasional nice Friday. It was 6:00 in the morning so I figured I'd stop at a Waffle House restaurant off I-10 here in Lafayette. There are always a diverse and interesting array of folks in there and, well, I love the food in a Waffle House. As a junior noticer of things I took the time to look around and take some mental notes. Here they be fer you.

   As I drove into the parking lot and pulled in a spot there were only two other cars there. There were two older fellows standing by the door outside. I assumed the were smoking. Upon walking in all was pretty quiet and two of the four workers were sitting in a booth. I look out the window into the dense fog and sort of mentally transport myself into a daydream of a  long solo  road trip. I could be halfway  across Texas in the BGT on my way to Arizona or California. All I ever do is go east from here so naturally I dream of lands to the west that I have not visited as of yet. I take a seat at the bar (as I usually do). The workers begin a stirrin' about the place like ants. The manager lady starts barking orders at the other employees. She's saying something about manning sections like the captain of a ship saying "battle stations!!" She's walking over toward me now. I know what I want already since the menus are already on the table so I order the Fiesta omelet with coffee and she's off to fill it. Now, it's time to look around and see what we got here! Mind you, none of this is any of my business but it IS  6:00  in the morning after all. What else am I gonna do while waiting? Over to my left there are two Mexicans that followed me in sitting in a booth. Both speak very clear English to the staff, but Spanish to each other. They seem like nice  guys and are very  polite so the chance that they are talking bad about us when we can't understand them are slim. I assume they are saying things like "man, that is a cool car out there!". To my right there is a guy reading a thick book that I quickly notice is void of pictures. Not my kind of read but he seems interested in it. He must be pretty hungry as he orders the "All Star Special" from the menu. "WooooWeee!", I think. That's alot of food for a guy no larger than me to be ingesting. I hear him saying "I miss you too" to someone in a phone conversation so I have to assume he is actually on the road trip that I am not on today. The smoking guys from earlier are are farther down and seated now and they look hungry. They give the waitress a hard time with comments like "What? no fries, just hash browns?" Funny guys indeed, at least amongst themselves. My order arrives and I am in need of a coffee refill by now since, as the sign states, this is not a fast food restaurant. The food kicks mucho butt as it normally does although the cook looks like he is asleep the whole time he's grilling. I found out later that he has been working many hours in a row and needs a break. I see on the far end of the place there is an old quiet lady bundled up in a blanket and wearing a yellow knit cap. She has been there the whole time and has not made a peep. I am thinking that someone should maybe check on her. Maybe take a pulse or put a mirror under her nose and look for fogging. Anyway, I am done now with the meal and it is time to pay. I leave a $1.00 tip on the bar and step out into the cool morning air. By cool, I mean about 60 degrees and muggy as all get out. There is a woman standing in the door of an SUV arguing with someone about something. Welcome back to reality, Paul! The old MG fires up flawlessly as it does at least 89.6% of the time and I am off into the dense fog. I think for a second that I could be back in England. I think my car runs better in the cold muggy air  since it feels at home.  I think it probably spent two or three days in England  but it still gets homesick once in a while. Good trip to work so far this particular morning. Maybe one day I'll just keep on driving and hit every single Waffle House on the way to wherever the I-10 west takes me.

Paul