Yesterday was the last of our Christmas shut-in days–five days since we were out and about. It has been a lovely, lazy time, but we’re both of us more than ready to get out, breathe some fresh air, and see other people.
So today… we went shopping.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Surely we have enough food in to keep us going into January?” I asked as we piled into the car.
“Yes, of course we have. We need some fresh bread, though, and it’d be nice to get milk. And some ordinary food.”
And that was how we found ourselves in the supermarket on a bitter, rainy day, rubbing shoulders with the grumpiest, most dour-faced old fuddy-duddies I’ve seen for a long time. And the scattering of younger folks were little better. It was unusual for Morrison’s. We settled on this supermarket because the people are generally cheerful and polite.
“What’s wrong with this lot today?” I asked Graham.
“Like as not they’ve just today realised how much money they’ve spent over the holiday.”
“Ah. You’re probably right.”
“I take it we’re not in the same state?”
“Goodness, no. In fact I just this morning paid the last of the bills off. Our Christmas is all bought and paid for.”
“Wow. Who’s a clever chicken, then?”
“Me. Me. Me.”
And so we poddled along, got to the check-out, paid our bill with the welcome aid of a £25 coupon from the supermarket, the reward for saving check-out receipts since November, and walked out into a fresh blast of icy rain and horrid, cruel wind.
We didn’t like that, but even so we ended up smiling, and drove away to leave the grumpies to their own devices.
