Tag Archives: groceries

Plans and Reflections

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Dead tree in the lake

It was much the same today as it was yesterday. Temperatures were up a bit, and by the time I went out the streets were already emptying out. Not that it was too hot to be out, just that it was warm and not particularly attractive for outdoor activity. I was in the shop for about an hour and a half (it’s hard to break old habits) and nobody else came in. They had bought in a rare token this morning, an early 19th Century silver shilling designed by an entrepreneur to be taken into use by pubs.

At that time we had a shortage of small silver coins and private enterprise stepped in to fill the gap. However, with only one more example to be found on the internet (sold in auction 12 years ago) it’s clear that the idea did not take off. And that – 2 examples to be found in 12 years – is the definition of a “rare coin”.

I was going through junk boxes looking for things suitable for being the basis of a new group of articles, but they have been gone through so well that there was little of merit to pick out.

Tree cutting on the island.

The groceries just arrived and to be fair to TESCO I got everything I ordered this week. They were also on time. When it works, it’s a brilliant system, but it does show just how fragile our food supply can be, even in what we think of as a prosperous and well-organised country.

I once spent three days in Tanzania. We had butter rationing at breakfast, the electricity used to go off in the afternoon and the hotel doorman/security guard was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The roads were amazing. In just one journey we had the front passenger door of the car flt open as we went round a bend and had to avoid a lorry that was coming backwards downhill, having insufficient power to get up the hill and not enough brakes to hold it when it stopped. We managed to avoid further trouble by travelling with the manager in charge of the office – part of his contract specified he got a new car every three years. After three years the lack of proper spares and care meant it needed replacing.

It was an interesting insight into the daily struggles people had, and the hierarchy of struggle (even an unreliable car was beyond the dreams of most people).

I had some photos with reflections, so I thought I’d use them.

Reflected sunrise, Nottingham

Fully Boostered and Thinking of Adventure

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Today, I am going to start with booster vaccinations. I had my covid booster this morning and managed to get to work on time, so that was a good start.

I arrived ten minutes early, was vaccinated by 9.30, which was actually my appointment time, and after waiting fifteen minutes I was released. It took me 12 minutes to get to work and I actually found a parking space in front of the shop.

My arm ached for a minute or two when I first used it to change gear but that went away. It is still a bit sore to touch, so I’m just not touching it. Despite the temptation.

Julia is on her way back from visiting Number One Son, the groceries are ready to pick up from TESCO and there is a full day of untouched washing up to do. Time to start moving.

It’ frightening how quickly a married man can revert to bachelor habits. I had a takeaway curry last night, turned the fire up full, put Outback Opal Hunters on, and fell asleep for nearly three hours. Luxury.

I’d rather prospect for gold in Australia than opals, simply because a lot of opals are found in mines and I’m a bit claustrophobic. They also seem just to carve away without anything to hold the roof up. I’d like to see a lot more pit props. I like opals, but I don’t want to die a lonely underground death with several tons of Australia stacked on top of me. Much better to die from heatstroke or snake bite with my metal detector in hand. However, I can’t see any of those scenarios coming to pass, I’m too old for adventurous careers – shop work suits me just fine at the moment.

 

Lightening Bolts, Books and Bragging

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Grocery day today. We had two phone calls, each giving us an updated delivery time (by “updated” I mean “later” of course).

Meanwhile, It is cold and wet and windy. The only good thing about the weather is that it isn’t as windy as yesterday and that there was only one clap of thunder. It was clearly trying out all sorts of things and decided that a thunderstorm was surplus to requirements.

I received a book through the post yesterday – Getting Published in UK Poetry Magazines by Robin Houghton. It cost £6 fo a 34 page pamphlet of information I already had, There were a couple of snippets I didn’t know, but much of he information is available online. The main thing I got was a lesson in checking how big something is before ordering it. It won’t break me, and if it encourages a fellow poet I suppose it’s worth the money.

One thing I did notice was mention of  humblebragging. It was not only a new word, but a new concept. It seems similar to name-dropping.The author seems very much against it, but doesn’t really explain it that well. I had to look it up. I may have appeared to be guilty of this in the past but I assure you, I don’t mean to.

When I say I fear being uncovered as a fraud who got lucky I am telling the truth. It’s gradually sinking in that I am probably OK as a writer, as I’m getting regular acceptances and editors talk to me these days. Well, some of them do. However, I do still worry that one day it will all come to an end.

And, to end (with a masterful humblebrag) my target of 100 rejections has moved further away as I had two acceptances yesterday.I will now look suitably modest and sidle away as the smug alarm starts to sound…

 

 

Running on the Spot

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I had an email from TESCO this morning.

Dear Mr Wilson
We are extremely sorry to let you know that due to store issues, we have unfortunately had to cancel your order that’s due today. You have not been charged for your order.

Kind Regards

Your Grocery Home Shopping Team

The mildest word that escaped my lips is “unacceptable”. Fortunately, I have plenty of food in, and with a little thought can last until next week. We’ve done that before when things have gone wrong. However, this time it’s the casual way they tell you that your social distancing  efforts are all in vain and that your menu planning has been a waste.

I have just rung the company to check that it isn’t some form of clever scam email, but it is true. They have an in-store Covid outbreak. Now, if they’d told me that, I would have sympathised. But just telling mw that they had cancelled the order and are offering no alternative is asking for a negative reaction.

We will have to buy bread, milk, cheese and eggs but probably have enough of everything else. We would normally have plenty of cheese and eggs but I have been cutting back to prevent waste.

Before that, I had my repeat blood test after failing last week’s test. In contrast to last week the phlebotomist was eager to start and I didn’t even have time to sit down in the waiting area before he called me through. Good news is that I bled profusely, so no clotting problems there. Of course, that might mean I have gone too far the other way.

I have also just rung the pharmacy and my methotrexate is in. It’s taken 23 days to work its way through the system and I’ve had to request it twice. This is, of course, from the people who brought us The Great Track & Trace Debacle and Lockdown III – This Time It’s Serious.

The pharmacy, to be fair, has been very efficient – its the on-line ordering that has gone haywire. In the old days you got a piece of paper in your hand. These days you wait for a text, and when it doesn’t come you realise you have no pills and it will be another week, if you are lucky. There’s a lot to be said for simple paper-based systems.

So far it’s been a day of chasing my own tale – lots of jobs done, including getting Julia to work, and writing this post is the only thing I’ve wanted to do. And even this i just a list non-vents in the life of a boring man.

I’ve also had a phone call from someone who claims to be validating Life Insurance Policies, but it felt more like a sales call so I made my excuses and left.

The surgery just rang – I failed my blood test again.  Altered dosage and another test next week again.

And now I’ve had one of those calls pretending to be from Amazon.

There is so much rubbish to deal with before you can actually do anything useful.