Of course there is some shopping we all have to do. Most of ours these days is done online and by delivery and I would just like to say that dairies, bakeries, butchers and grocers, the supermarket shoppers and delivery men have done us proud this year! Huge thank you to all who have come to our door bringing what we need with a cheery smile and a kind word.
To those of you who go to the supermarket in person, and especially at Christmas, my advice is that a shopping list is essential and I always make one -- although I don't always remember to take it with me and -- Well read all about it 😁 True story!
The Customer's Always Right
Lists are my habit.
I go to the store
armed with a list
so I'm always sure
to get only the items
that I really need.
I stand in the aisle
checking my list
tick fruit, dairy, store-cupboard,
so far nothing missed;
drinks, frozen, household,
I push on with purpose
past the disarray
of others' – indecisions.
I observe them with dismay
and superior derision,
smug in my superiority of vision.
Who didn't bring a list today?
I arrive at miscellaneous,
a category I've devised
for those unaccustomed items
one occasionally buys.
I stop and stare
at the scrawl on my list.
What the hell does that say?
Am I mad?
Was I pissed?
Well – the paper is wrinkled and scruffy at this stage.
And my writing's becoming less legible with age.
And my eyesight is not what used to be.
If I put on my glasses I'll read it easily.
So I fumble my glasses onto my face and squint.
I had to need this
what-ever-it-is.
Could it be clothes prop?
or chocolate biscuits?
No the first word's too long and the second's too short
Selectable progs?
Delectable hogs?
Eclectic drops?
and I think and I squint
but I have to abort.
At the check-out the assistant asks politely
Did you get everything you wanted today?
All except for the electric frogs, I say.
Excuse me?
You don't seem to have any electric frogs!
I show her the item right there on my list.
Electric frogs, she reads. Do you know what it is?
Not a clue. I answer.
But I looked and looked and you don't have any
so I have a good mind to complain to the manager!
