On not exactly shopping

I went away for the weekend with a couple of friends. On the way to the beach we stopped at a supermarket. Friend 1 immediately disappeared, presumeably to search for essentials. Friend 2 peers at the trolley, looks at me: ‘So what else do we need?’ Me: ‘no idea, I’m just pushing the trolley..’ 🤷‍♀️ […]

On putting out other peoples’ fires

I saw this as I was walking to the supermarket: So I went to investigate. As you do. I like fire, generally, if it’s contained and/or supervised. I don’t much appreciate fires living by themselves in my town. I stomped out the flames but didn’t have any way to do anything with the embers. So… […]

On tears and tablets

I need to go shopping. The tears fall heavily, the breaths juddering and irregular, my thoughts spiralling and my face getting steadily more puffy. The tears have nothing to do with my need to go shopping. They’re just there. And their presence is a hindrance. I want go back to bed. To hide. To cry […]

On making time to be ill

It’s Friday. I’m supposed to be in the middle of a two day committee meeting. Instead I am lying on a towel looking at this: rejoicing at the slight breeze and listening to the birdsong and the buzzing of a million insects. Yesterday I looked up at the sky through the branches for the first […]

On trying, and failing, to count to 20

“I think that’s 12” he said, from the top step of a wobbly stepladder. “Although they won’t stay still long enough for me to count them properly. I haven’t counted the rest, but there’s no way there’s another 20 in there”. “That’s ok, we’ll take them all, even if there aren’t going to be as […]

On banknotes and other liabilities

By “other liabilities” I mostly just mean myself. I just went into a shop to buy a lens cover for DB’s camera. Easy right? Wrong. Despite seeing better every day, it appears that I still can’t see well enough to be let loose in society. The cover was supposed to cost 15€ which felt like […]

On shopping – or not

(Pretend this was posted at 22:45 on November 7th – I started writing in bed but fell asleep before I could press ‘post’. As it’s the middle of the night, and not morning yet, I’m going to count it as not missing a day (;)). *** Me: “So, what are we looking for, again?” DB: […]

On christmas food shopping

It’s still a week before advent starts. That means it’s still at least a month until Christmas. The shops have been selling Christmas food since September. We’ve been avoiding everything Christmassy, in an effort to single (double) handedly change the way supermarkets plan their year. It’s’s a tactic I’ve been trying for a few years […]

On walking not driving

DB isn’t a natural walker. He says his legs are too short. He’d rather drive. I used to walk or cycle all over the place when I lived by myself, but since moving here I have allowed myself to become lazy. Naja, as a by-product of my many problems and consequent doctors’ visits, we have […]

On perfume shopping (part 1)

– or shopping with SD continued- I’ve experimented with perfume even less than with make-up. I hate it when people leave scent trails, unless they’re REALLY good ones, and then I stalk them MWAHAHAHAHAA!!! No. I don’t really stalk people. I’m just really fussy about the ones I would stalk if it was down to […]

On shopping successfully

I don’t much like shopping. Food-shopping is bearable, clothes-shopping generally isn’t, although it is marginally better than shoe-shopping, and a whole lot better than bra-shopping. I tend to avoid it if at all possible. However. Sometimes life strikes, and I get invited somewhere that calls for something other than jeans. It seems life has struck. […]

On supermarkets and inefficiency

ARGH!! Not that I’m at all p****d off. At myself as much as at them. I went shopping this morning (why I’m home on a workday is another story). I wanted to buy milk, among other things. One of the 50.000 milk sorts was on offer. One that’s produced by happy, non-genetically-modified-feed-fed, local cows. It’s […]