If I had a time machine, I'd like to travel back to the point where the idea of the car got pitched for the very first time. "Wait - so it's the same as a horse, but it's faster, more durable, and much less prone to getting randomly spooked?" a cynical skeptic would query. "It'll never catch on. Does it even poop in the street?"
Nowadays, cars are all over the place, on our roads and in our driveways. and horses have become the equivalent of transport relics, relegated to films about the Wild West, and whenever the Queen wants to make a needlessly grand entrance. But some people are still fighting the good horse fight.
It's just a shame, then, that the world seems determined to leave those people behind.
If you've got a craving for Big Macs but not necessarily the time to sit down and eat one, the McDonald's drive-thru is pretty much a godsend. Although you have to speak very loudly into a speaker and hope the server hasn't got anything else on their plate, it's a very effective way of simplifying a simple transaction even further.
The only things you'll need for the drive-thru are hunger, the means to pay for your hunger to be sated, and a vehicle. Then, you're golden. Unfortunately, society has decided that some things are vehicles and some things aren't, which is why I'm pretty disappointed to hear the plight of Louise Carter, who was just trying to get herself some food.
Out in Malvern in the English Midlands county of Worcestershire, Louise was in the mood for a Big Mac; one of the most understandable moods of all time."I thought ‘I might never do this again as I might not have the opportunity, I’m going to do this," said Louise as she made the decision to ride her horse underneath the Golden Arches.
But as Louise explained in a Facebook post, when she rocked up to the drive-thru to satisfy that hunger with her trusty steed Oliver, she was cruelly turned away.
"Well, on a quiet semi final night, my Oliver was a star, not 1 spook and there were more cars out than I thought.
3.5 miles there, as a once in blue moon event just to have a Big Mac meal and what do we get? Sour faced staff."
According to Louise, they turned away herself and Oliver: "We won't serve you as you're not a car." Despite it being a quiet evening with not many cars around to hold up service and spook Oliver, Louise slammed the McDonald's and instead found refuge in a nearby Caffe Nero.
"McDonald's Malvern your staff have let you down BIG time tonight, customer service - there wasn't any - so where did we go? Well to the lovely Caffe Nero where they were as normal; welcoming and helpful."
For their part in all of this, McDonald's were quick to explain that since the drive thru kiosks are specifically designed for cars and other vehicles, they're unsuitable for horses, but I also think that in that situation you've got to loosen up a little; with nobody at the drive-thru to inconvenience, at the very worst, the experiment doesn't work out and everybody has a laugh.
No need to be such a neigh-sayer.
