Insanity must have seized upon me in my sleep for today of all days I took it in to my head to go to the supermarket! Not ,you understand that it was an idle whim of mine to enter the seventh circle of Hell for amusements sake but still under the circumstances I must have been of my rocker!
During the weeks before Christmas the supermarket was much quieter than usual, people were wisely not filling the pockets of these bloated institutions and were being more circumspect with their expenditure. New year celebrations also failed to exited the customer into extravagance and this is what lulled me into a false sense of security.
While the British shopper kept his cash in his or her wallet during the late festivities the threat of a few centimetres of snow had the heaving masses out and filling trolleys as if we were expecting the next ice age. While I filled my little basket with walnuts and cracked wheat others were buying potatoes by the half hundred weigh, huge quantities of bread and mountains of frozen foods, I have never seen the place so full.
Among the heaving herd I stood a zephyr's chance in a hurricane and was walked in to ,bashed on the head and run in to by trolley pushing harpies until at last caught between a mass of trolleys heading straight for me and a press of impatient trolley pushers behind me I whipped out my telescopic walking stick and brandishing it dangerously yelled”Expeliamus” to the delight of several small children!
It worked, well up to a point, thinking I had gone crazy the crowd melted away and I proceeded with my shopping in the one clear aisle in the place.
Having navigated my way through the shopping equivalent of the Sargasso Sea I headed for the checkouts ,they were all several trolleys deep. I put on my MP3 player, took out a book and settled down for a long wait.........................................................a very long wait.
It seemed that eternity and I grew grey waiting but at last I checked out with my bits and pieces and headed for home cursing myself for a fool the whole way back.
While I had been thus occupied some one had stolen every man hole cover from one end of the lane to the other and barriers had been erected around the gaping holes to prevent unsuspecting pedestrians for falling headlong in to them. How in the name of a thousand wonders they manage to perform this feet in broad daylight who can say?
Back in the warmth and safety of my own kitchen I made a very large batch of melting ginger shortbread as this had been requested by my son, then roasted some nuts for Pa . These nuts are a real treat for him and as his appetite can be erratic a high protein treat such as these are very good to have around. Roasted nuts are worth making if only for the wonderful smell which fills the kitchen for the rest of the day.
Last night although it was much colder we were all warmer having prepared the beds with hot water bottles an hour before retiring. I slept well and if I had any dreams thankfully I do not remember them.
Our little cat has spent the day roosting on my window sill ,warmed by the radiator and the thick curtain in which she somehow folds herself.
I hope that it does snow if only a little just for the pleasure of seeing the feathery flakes falling and to hear the wonderfully satisfying crunch of snow under my boots.
Before I go I will leave you with the poem which I believe sums up the ills and chills of winter better than any other
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail;
When Tom bears logs in to the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail:
When blood be nipped and ways be foul.
Then nightly sings the staring owl
When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw;
When birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw:
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
Tu-whit to-who
A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
William Shakespeare
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