Born to Shop

The fuchsia is still bravely flowering. I feel like I ought to brush up the fallen flowers, but they look so bright and cheerful when it is so grey. 

My grandmother was born to shop. She was dedicated. She had focus, determination, a plan and an endless store of gossip. Everyone knew her. I think I've mentioned her routine before. She lived in a small village between Chester and Wrexham, just about on the Welsh side. It did not have many shops, even before they all started closing down, and definitely didn't have the scope that she preferred. So she travelled.

On Monday she visited her brother and my mother in Ellesmere Port, the other side of Chester from her home. She would call in at the Kwik Save, Woolworths and sometimes the market and catch up with the news. On Tuesday she went to Birkenhead, with occasional stops along the Wirral, especially to her favourite shop in Rock Ferry. On Wednesday she would stay home, do the washing and bake. On Thursday she would visit Wrexham and have a look at the market there and the big superstore - I think it was Asda, but my grandmother passed in 1987, so I can't remember the details. On Friday she would be back in Ellesmere Port to catch up with her brother and my mother and play bingo. Sometimes she would call in at Chester on a Saturday if we weren't visiting and on Sunday she went to the Spiritualist Church in Chester. All of this travel was by bus. 

To be fair, this wasn't entirely set in stone. She would sometimes travel to places like Liverpool as there was only one store that sold her particular favourite nylons (never tights!) at a price she could accept. And she was always happy to take us on day trips to New Brighton or we would sometimes visit the cemetaries. But, on the whole, she shopped.

She knew all the shops, and all the shopkeepers, and all the assistants. She had favourite places for cheese and sugar and bread, and always had something to say when she called in. Back in the early seventies, when there was a sugar shortage and stores were rationing it to one or two bags per person, my grandmother came home with dozens of them. She was a regular at half the grocers within a twenty mile range so of course she got her sugar. It lasted her for a couple of years and was mostly used for jam. 

I think I've talked about her before. She looked after me before I started school and I have many fond memories of listening to gossip and trundling around the shops. What reminded me today is that I got a jar of DH's favourite coffee from Amazon. It was the only place I could find it. I've had another look around, and I think I may end up chasing to Sainsburys next time, which currently out of my way. 

When I was younger, I remember my mother and grandmother having to go to different places to get particular items. If my grandfather preferred a particular type of tea, then my grandmother would scour everywhere to make sure he got it. My mother would move heaven and earth to make sure that my father and then us had our favourite treats. I'm carrying on the tradition. DH doesn't make a fuss about much, and he really likes this particular brand of coffee. This means that I will be braving the ring road more often than I'd like.

There are a lot of gaps on shelves at the moment. A lot of it is to do with the disruption to supply chains and driver shortage. I suspect, however, that the days of having all the choice may have gone. I know that Tesco was already slimming down the lines it carried before the plague, and there isn't the same supply routes after Brexit. I don't think it will go back to the 1970s, when you couldn't get things like peppers, chillies or garlic, but I think that finding the less usual stuff may be more of a challenge. What can I say - challenge accepted. 

The reason this is being posted a little early is all to do with writing. I have a ton to do, lots of housewifery and from tomorrow it will be daily writing posts for a month.

Writing stuff - tomorrow is the first of October and I'm still halfway through writing the new piece that I should post for tomorrow on my writing blog. Remember, there will be something posted every day, and while some of the stories will be old favourites, there will be some new stuff as well. I'm also taking part in Fright Nights Blog Hop(10-15 October), and there are a few other writing challenges and possible promotions going on. Watch out for a gazillion and four posts about this over the next month.

Hugs and good health to all.