The new brew in my live is Mocha Java from the A&J Deli. To think I made the 350 mile trip 6 times a yr. fro 1976-1979 and never missed that stop. It is where I would traditionally phone Harry and Gary would answer and I’d tell I’ll be there in 2 hours. And then over that highway you could always see Willie. I would always pity myself that I approached it from the north—because for some reason, any other direction was preferable to me. Am I rambling?
I admit it—comfortable as I am, I am lonesome for Willie. But the old Willie. Featureless, humorless, niggerless, and mercilessly inhospitable. My “first city” and it was just as well. Someday I know I’ll go back. If for no reason but that there was simply nowhere else. The city itself should have been 8-15 miles further southwest, and today the best thing I can say for Willie is that it is NOT KALISPELL.
Well, I got nothing done last evening & it cost me $30 bucks. For you folks in the future, that’s 16.21 bottles of bee or 21.42 packs of cigarettes or 3.92 large pepperoni pizzas. But not all those at once. About a 1/2 day’s wage for non-union people, or worse.
I’ll make a predcition. In 2,000 A.D. just inflation will price cigarettes at about $15 a pack at a conservative guess. Economically, there are a lot of very broke people around these days. And does drinking make women fat or do only fat women drink? Quick, think of the ugliest thing on a woman. Plus you will be happy to note I have recently acquired a “certain amount” of Peek Frean’s Assorted Crème.
[Author’s note 2023: this passages are not clear, as I often drove across the border into Canada at the time and prices were far higher. The nearest city was Great Falls and I’ve only been there once, I think. Anyway, here are some cigarette statistics for 1981.
> Avg. price: $1.01 per pack
> Inflation-adjusted price: $2.40 per pack
> Avg. state and federal cigarette taxes: $0.31 per pack
> Annual consumption per capita: 2,520 cigarettes
> Lung & bronchus cancer deaths: 58.6 per 100,000
So I was way off on $15 per pack, but look at the annual consumption. By 2021, the average was down to 463 per person per year.]
