Shopping

My head’s in a bit of a mess today, nothing new there then, but when I feel like this there’s generally only one answer, shopping. I guess at this point you’re thinking typical woman off out spending money on clothes and shoes that she doesn’t really need, but then you’d be wrong. The kind of shopping that helps sort my confused little brain out usually occurs in Sainsburys, my supermarket of choice. Over the years I have tried various different shops but always seem to find myself back in the loving embrace of Mr. S. 

As a child I grew up in the middle of nowhere 3 miles from the local village shop, a place that had been run by the same family for many many years. In those days the local shop and it’s staff were truly there to serve the community, in fact it reminds me a little Arkwrights in Open All Hours, where the staff picked the products off the shelf for you. The other quite remarkable thing about this family run business was that they used to have something we called The Van, although I actually think that there were more than one. At least three times a week, The Van, would turn up outside our home and beep it’s horn, a signal that would have us children running for the back steps ready to climb aboard. The two strongest memories that come to mind are the smell of freshly baked bread wrapped in brown paper and the huge hunk of cheese hand wrapped in grease proof paper. The other quite unusual thing about this business was that if you didn’t have any cash on you or in your home they ran something called “The Book”. This meant that should you find yourself in the shop or on the van without any cash your purchases could be recorded in “The Book” and then at some more convenient date you could pay for them. I guess it was an early version of Credit but actually I like to think it was more a form of trust. Obviously people did pay their bills as that family went on to run that business for a great many years.

Back to today, as you have probably realised I am a naturally nosey person, and so my shopping trip is not just about spending money or thinking of things to cook but about looking at what other people are purchasing. I know that my blogging brother has mentioned before about how he feels people look at what he puts on the conveyer belt, well I am one of “those” people. I like to judge other people by the products they put in their baskets or trolleys, “is she really so stupid that she can’t mix her own eggs, milk and flour to make her own Yorkshire puddings, does she really need that Aunt Bessies crap?” “Can he really not boil some pasta and mix in some dressing?” “Does that very large overweight man need all those bars of chocolate and cake?” In fact the only people that I seem to understand are those with the screaming children and basket full of booze. 

So here I am, brain sorted, blog sorted, chickens are cooking, Yorkshire puddings made and the wine is open, the perfect end to another lovely weekend, wished we’d won at football though...

I just want to add a little post script to tonight’s blog, once again the laptop failed me and at my first attempt of writing it all disappeared with no chance of retrieval. Fear not! In stepped Master Musical and insisted I didn’t give up, he would type while I dictated. Thanks son, and I added this PS after he’s gone, let’s see if he bothers to read it shall we?