We do the big food shop yesterday. I was in two minds as to whether to do it then or just leave it until the new year & use up stuff from the freezer until then. We start off with the essentials eg the milk, onions, margarine, the things needed just to get to Christmas.
It didn't seem too bad at first. Half an hour later bedlam had arrives. People stand bewildered in aisles, staring blankly around them, making it impossible for other people to get round them. Most people are pushing around trolleys piled high with goodies. You wouldn't believe the shops are only closing for a couple of days. Although I appreciate some people will have guests coming to stay for the holiday & so need extra food, surely there should be some people who don't, people like us who are going to be guests at the party rather than hosts. But the Bank Holiday food panic has well & truly set in. People are buying for months of siege.
Eventually we're done & head for the tills. We manage to find a shortish queue. We're in a hurry. We were supposed to be picking up PD to take him to the Pub quarter of an hour before, but the shopping had taken that much longer fighting through our fellow shoppers. The cashier grabs the milk bottle. Milk spurts out, all down her & the till. She cries out in surprise & shock. She hastily starts mopping herself down. Eventually a supervisor comes to help, bucket in hand. We're not allowed to find another bottle of milk ourselves. They will do that. We wait & wait as things get mopped up, before the assistant goes off to find the replacement bottle. Eventually we're through.
We arrive at the Pub, relieved to be able to relax after that experience of living hell. I look at the till receipt. After all that fuss, they'd failed to charge us for the milk. I contemplate going back to tell the shop but just can't face it. I tell myself they'd probably tell me to just keep it.
So this morning PD rings. He was just back from his big pre-Christmas shop. They'd got to Tescos's for 7am when it opened. There wasn't a fellow shopper in sight. They'd sailed through easily. The only disadvantage was that the fresh fish hadn't been delivered yet, but that hadn't bothered them as they weren't looking for fish today. It had been easier than usual. What a contrast!
The day they're worried about is Friday when they've got a 9am time slot to collect there pre-ordered M&S foods. M&S is in Lancaster so is sure to be busy. It's busy enough on any Friday, let alone the day before Christmas Eve.
What a relief it will be when shops, & fellow shoppers, get back to normal!
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