Monday, September 27, 2021

GROCERY MIGRAINE

Haibun/Haiku and Frank asks us to overcome writers' block for our haibun this early autumn day.  Having made a quick (?) stop at the grocery, I had no trouble with block at all!  Submitted to dVerse 9/27/21

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                                      GROCER MIGRAINE

In the Stone Age, when I was a child, the grocer in our little town had shelves stocked with everything from crackers to bag balm.  It was a folksy little place where the local farmers gathered to visit a bit before going home to do the chores, and kids could get a towering ice cream cone for a dime.  I was thinking of it this week while bumbling about my ex-favorite grocery trying to find the items on my list.  The store is being converted to one of those mega-nightmares where I need a golf cart to get from produce to paper products.  Nothing is where it used to be, and the layout, I’m sure, was created by a demented chimp on speed.  A pound of coffee used to be 16 ounces, and picking up a box of crackers used to be a simple thing once upon a long ago.  Now crackers gives me a headache.  Low fat or no fat?  Extra thin and crispy?  Do I want regular, salt-free or low salt, cheddar flavor, ranch or barbeque, baked or traditional?  It’s enough to leave hapless shoppers in a corner in the fetal position.   My friends and I are in our senior years.  We wear out quickly.  We have decided to lobby for a first-aid station somewhre mid--store!

Grocer marathon

Requires time and stamina

No more quick pick-ups


18 comments:

  1. I love your story! Such a great haibun... This is why Quick Marts are so popular. People will pay a dollar an item more just to avoid the nightmare you described here. Well done Beverly

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  2. I'm living your reality, Beverly. The village store (not ours - the next village over, but the one I most like to visit) got sold to a newly-arrived Flatlander & is being "updated." That quiet corner where the a couple of locals could sit, sip coffee & play a game of checkers...GONE. Bummer.
    Nice haibun, B.

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  3. Ah all those choices can give one z blustering headache.
    Nice one

    Happy you dropped by to read mine

    Much💖love

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  4. I agree, Bev...too many choices take too much time. During Covid, grocery stores here would take orders by phone or internet and then you just go pick it up.

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  5. I share your headache. Seems like the stores like to change things up just to keep us in there longer. Nice haibun.

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  6. Totally agree - hate those stores. Just the thought of them is exhausting!

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  7. Since Covid, I've not stepped foot in a grocery store. I order everything online, and the shop delivers it to my front door. In truth, I miss seeing new products, trying new food and flavours. Always buying the same thing can be boring. Life is too short for boredom.

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    Replies
    1. I totally agree. I have succumbed to the order and pick-up routine as well ... and I am bored as well!

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  8. Consumerism gone mad! Sometimes too much choice is not a good thing, as you've illustrated so well here.

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  9. "a first-aid station somewhere mid--store" -- I've been in stores that could use this!

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  10. Beverly,
    I laughed out loud at this! At my age, I could do with a first aid station, a golf cart and someone to kneecap that demented chimp on speed that lays out theses mega-stores! Great haibun.
    pax,
    dora

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  11. I like the immediacy of this and can relate to your problems. Modern life leaves me confused - being of senior years myself. It is very hard not to crumple into a fetal position in the supermarket sometimes.

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  12. hilarious, Bev! I'm sorry for your travails!

    yours,
    David [ben Alexander]

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  13. Bev, these stores can wear out the young ones too! Too many choices do spoil the fun of shopping.

    I look forward to your poem on metaphors and idioms.

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    1. Maybe you missed my "Idiometry" at the beginning of September. It's here:
      https://worditude.blogspot.com/2021/09/idiometry.html

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  14. Mega shops stops the flow of creativity for sure.

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  15. Where did my comment go?

    Those stores are terrible, but sometimes you are happy to have the selection.

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  16. LOL LOL ... of course we seniors need First Aid Stations in our grocery stores ... and anyplace else we frequent!

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