Only in Durham

I don't have a category/tag on the blog titled "idiots" the way that Barry does at his place, so this one's lumped in under "humor" -- though it's a story more befitting the former appellation than the latter.

So I walked downtown for lunch on Friday, enjoying the nice day and fresh air. I walked down to Toast to pick up the panini I'd called ahead to order. (Note to unwitting Bull City lunchers everywhere: yes, you can call ahead to Toast, something that helps given their lunchtime popularity.)

I walked in, paid the owner at the front, and carried my sandwich outside. Looking back at the restaurant, the popularity of the new sandwich shop is clear: the line extended all the way out the door.

Outside Toast, a number of customers were eating their paninis, also enjoying the fresh air, the hustle and bustle of downtown, the occasional songbird, and the hellfire-preaching kids across the street.

The what?

Yes, on the streetcorner opposite Toast stood a passel of a dozen kids or so -- none of them over second graders from the looks of it -- taking turns with a bullhorn, yelling out phrases like "Repent! Repent! Jesus is coming!" and "Accepting Jesus as your savior is the only way to avoid eternal damnation!" Each was wearing the dark blue uniform of what looked to be a school, church or youth group; I'm not sure whose, though.

Mind you, the idiots I'm talking about aren't these kids, but the adults. I respect the right of anyone to stand up and shout out their beliefs. But, c'mon man, don't put kids up to this kind of stuff.

Still, it was a very singlular Durham and southern moment. Hip eatery to the south, Bible Belt prechin' and streetcorner savin' to the north.

Perhaps they picked Five Points for this thinking it represented a pentagram? Is Five Points the entry to the Hellmouth? Is the SouthBank's ugly facade really hiding something far more sinister? They do have "limited" underground parking; I wonder what else occupies the lower level, hmmmm?

In any case, they weren't there long, as Claire describes over at the Crone Report; after a few minutes of fun, Durham's finest came along to validate the fact that, yes, you do need a permit before you take to the streets with your bullhorn.

Comments

[Duke09]

I got up extra early to get to Dunkin Donuts by 8:00am, only to find out it still is not open. Any word on an updated date?

[Christoph]

Maybe they were from the school of brainwashed ignoramuses.

[TSQ75]

:|

[orpheus]

I will now refer to the SouthBank Building as "Cerberus".