When an untrained reader sees the words “Tuna Tuesday,” s/he might be thinking of standing menu items, like Friday Fish, Saturday Beans & Franks, or Wednesday Prince Spaghetti Day. That’s ok, but some background is in order, especially for readers who are not “cat people,” but first, congratulations to future “Rep. Mr. Carson” for being a Londonderry primary winner. He will have something in common with William Michael Haley of the South Carolina National Guard: a wife of higher rank. No matter what any of us think of Nikki Haley today, she did make some humor about her Corner Office days from the podium in 2022 while stumping for General Bolduc.
Back to Tuna Tuesday, I saw a short video titled “The Inner Thoughts of an Average House Cat” about 3 years ago. Who would have thought that Mr. Carson would be a future member of the House? His current candidacy only serves to validate the video, but I learned something about a very spicy Carson cat on 1/4/24 during a surprise encounter with Queen Sharon outside the back of the state house while walking back to my car after a hearing. I couldn’t let such an impromptu opportunity go to waste, as she was the one who spoke to me first (saying “don’t jaywalk”).
I showed Sharon the video all the way to its end, when she could hear, “I really hate Sharon; she does not do Tuna Tuesday.” To that, she told me that her daughter’s “very spicy cat” was staying as a guest while she was finishing her active duty military service. We went on to other small talk, like Tim Lang’s version of the Parental Bill of Rights, introduced to Senate Education earlier that morning, and her plans to acquire a Maine Coon kitten that was later named Declan. This was a few months before she stuck it to Nashua by moving OTP on HB1002 as the Judiciary chair.
When Sharon defined her status as an Enemy of 91A official on 4/18/24, I channeled my seething anger into internet humor that often ended with that video: “I really hate Sharon, she does not do Tuna Tuesday,” telling people Mr. Carson’s life was in danger. As for anyone listening, I left it up to their imagination to decide if his assailant would be Declan or that spicy cat belonging to his daughter in the military.
As the months and years passed, I still had the video link saved, but I only brought it up and shared it in cat groups when an opportunity to establish relevance presented itself. And here we are with the newest Market Basket weekly circular following the primary! Wouldn’t you know that a whole tuna sub is on sale for $5.29 all week, 9/13 through 9/19.
Not all Market Baskets are created equal, and I learned that through personal observation in Concord. The older stores (ones with lower numbers, such as 34 and 35 in Concord) don’t have all the amenities of the newer or remodeled ones (such as #39 and #43 on Amherst St). The nearest store to Chez Carson is Store #42, which might or might not have sandwiches made to order in addition to being pre-made. Why would this matter to the Carson family? If the daughter’s spicy cat is still living there on Tuesday 9/15, it might be a good idea to get that tuna sub made to order with their spicy mayo.
