Auto Shoppe

I once wrote that Hintonburg has a lot of barber shops. That's true.

And another time I wrote that it has a lot of ice cream stores. Also true.

But there is yet another type of store this area has in spades.... auto repair shops!

GROAN! Auto Repair Shops?! Where are the cute photos of Margot I can hear some of you thinking! Well hear me out! This is part of our little life here in Hintonburg.  And within 3 minutes walk of our house there are three of 'em. One is literally at the end of our street. Walk a little further and you find more garages.

Lots of vehicles

 They are a sign that this is still a working neighbourhood not a gentrified fantasy world like Westboro or the Glebe or a tourist zone like the Market.  People work here. People commute from here. And people drive from here. And some of those people take their cars to one of the auto repair shops.

Like us. This past weekend the heavens poured a small pile of snow on us and we decided it was time to put on the ol' winter tires (is this a purely Canadian tradition? Do people in Norway or Sweden put on winter tires every year?). So we dropped ours off at Jim Dickenson Auto Repair. Jim. Dickenson. If that isn't a proper auto repair sounding name I don't know what is!

Jim's shop

Having a repair shop within walking distance of your home is actually super convenient. These types of stores in Canada are often situated in massive parking lot deserts in the middle of nowhere, which forces you to stick around until the repairs are done.

But, honestly, I  have trouble imagining these shops will be around for many more years. The land they are sitting on must be worth a fortune. How tempting that must be for the owner to sell...and then "poof!" a new condo building...with probably a barber shop or ice cream store at the bottom! Oh well. Enjoy it while it lasts and then who knows. Maybe in a few years we'll all be in self-driving cars.

What do you think Margot?

More ice cream? Must be Wednesday!

Yeah. There's the Margot snap!