The Mini has staged a comeback. Thirty years ago, if anyone had offered me a Matchbox or a Beetle I would have been deeply affronted. My oversized ego dreamed of Silver Ghosts, the 220 Super, the Motor Guzzi, need I say more, only of the finest inventions. Sixteen years of continuous formal education, fortified by several more years of night school have enabled me to come to the solemn realization that the knowledge I possess cannot afford a tricycle wheel and hobble I must daily to catch the O-Train. Time has taught me to prune my aspirations to appreciate anything mini (except for the mini-skirt, which I loved before, but not anymore). At least I can take solace in my ability (through education) to compose a simple letter to Pepsi to reevaluate the pricing of the 237 ml Pepsi, christened the Hobbit Pepsi by me. A truly quixotic stance, but perchance Pepsi may see the logic.

THE MATH
In the 'Big O', major drug stores and grocery shops offer a carton of eighteen 355-ml pop for $4.44 'Big O currency'. For bargain hunters it is not unusual to pick up 2 packs of twelve 355-ml pop for $7.00. The savvy shopper would normally pick up a normal sized pop for $0.30 to $0.40 with the perennial 'O' taxes factored in.

This is not so with the Hobbit Pepsi. A pack of six sells for above $2.49 at all places/times bringing the value of the squat can to at least $0.48 cents! Despite this, I love the squat can; it is less than 70% in volume than the 355-ml pop, it complements my dinner nicely without guilt, would have been perfect for a sugar and fizzy buzz at $0.25 per can. I will be forced to give up on this mini lifestyle like I have given up on the mini skirt if it continues to retail at BMW prices.

Coca-Cola has put their mini in another category - a 327-ml glass bottle that retails for between $0.75 to $1.00! For their justification, Coke is said to taste better in a bottle. Yea right! And, I wonder where all the crystal goes when the bottles are drenched? In another part of the hemisphere where I once lived, crushed bottles, instead of marble, were used in terrazzo concrete mixes to make beautiful floors. I was therefore quite surprised to read in the Saturday, July 10 2004, 'Globe and Mail', page L8 that glass in concrete technology has recently been discovered and was being recreated by Lance Coar, a Washington based artist/engineer. Instead of making new glass Mr. Coar look into the use of empty coke bottles and that would be an A+ for saving the world.

I scoured the 'O' to find other drinks that had been fairly priced and I discovered the Molson 6.0 Cold Shots which retail at approximately 50% of their fuller "I am Canadian" counterparts. Be warned this is a hard drink and the 'O' frowns on hard drinks. It is only brought up here to demonstrate to Coke and Pepsi that minis need not retail at Rolls-Royce values.