Supermarket Sweep

Happy New Year everyone! Tis the time of year to set New Years Resolutions. In recent years I have decided to focus on little things that will improve my life rather than huge goals like get a new job/lose a stone/give up alcohol. This year they consist of watching more movies and going out dancing more often. Last year they were to visit my cousin Up North (never happened - but not technically my fault!) and to try doing my grocery shopping online.
It has been a year now and the chosen supermarket has done me proud. Yes, on occasion they don’t get their substitutions quite right and recently they forgot my hot chocolate (fear not - I had some left) but all in all the meat is not too fatty and the veg looks fresh and healthy.
The main reason I made this resolution was because Him Indoors and I had come to dread Sunday afternoons, aka Shopping Day. Not that we particularly hate shopping for groceries, but because we hate supermarkets. I like to think that I am a reasonably calm person, but as soon as I step into our local I feel my blood pressure rise. I don’t know whether it’s the dizzying array of special offers, the lighting or the cringe-worthy soundtrack, but something happens to people in supermarkets. They stand in the middle of the aisles with a huge trolley sideways on, blocking the entire aisle, or leave their trolley in front of the shelves preventing anyone else from getting their baked beans whilst they spend half an hour choosing their chopped tomatoes. They bring their entire extended family and scream at each other across the shop. They bash into you with their baskets. They get in the way.
I have to admit this does not happen in all supermarkets. However our two other local stores are a little on the pricey side, and although we sometimes pop in to get the odd treat, shopping there on a weekly basis would slowly render us bankrupt. Hence why we turned to the web for salvation.
Unfortunately this week when I returned to London after Christmas, I had not planned ahead enough to have a delivery on its way when we arrived home. So the inevitable happened.
I tried to convince myself that it would be okay. But okay it was not. It was New Years Eve and it seemed that everyone was expecting Armageddon at the stroke of midnight and were desperately stocking up just in case. My friend and I have a fairly short shopping list, but we were in there for at least an hour. By the end of the experience, I made a mental note to continue with my pledge from 2009.
You would think that was the end of it. But oh no. A couple of days late the same friend and I had run out of beer. I suggested one of the posher stores. But the local hell-hole was closer, and it was cold…
Let’s put it this way, we needed the beer when we got home.