Have a Coke and a Smile

When we lived in the states, we had a yard with grass and flowers and plants and trees. I (Jason) got to maintain all of this greenery by hand. I enjoyed being out in the sun, listening to WBAP talk radio and making the yard look clean and cared-for. Frequently, after spending some quality time pulling weeds or raking or mowing, I would find strange calluses on my fingers or hands.

In our new home, while we do thankfully have an outside patio, we have no grass, and therefore, no yard work. However, I've recently noticed a hard spot on my right thumb that feels a lot like I've been doing yard work or chopping firewood. It's been there for several months, I think, but just today I figured out where it came from.

You see, in America, we bought 12-packs of cans of Dr. Pepper and Coca Cola. But here, because there are no pre-packaged 12-packs, and because we have to carry our groceries home on foot, it makes more sense to buy bottles. It's also better to buy bottles because it would be rude to serve Coke to our guests in cans. It has to be poured into a nice-looking glass and then served on a tray. The 1.5 liter bottle costs about 75 cents American. And that's where this callus comes from. Almost every day I have to open a new bottle, and evidently I've been using my right thumb to apply the necessary force to remove the bottle cap. Are we drinking too much Coke?