I know, I know – many of you won’t be sympathetic about my double pushchair in shops difficulties – I should never leave the house with my kids and should buy all my groceries, clothes and home furnishings online.  Well, you may not sympathise, but one kind chap did.  There I was struggling with a double pushchair in the queue at Tesco Express, weaving around to the till, balancing a basket, fielding a ‘free-styling’ toddler (released from the pram), when suddenly it was my turn and I was having great difficulty manoeuvring the pushchair, loose child and basket behind a trolley of stock that had been left in the most ridiculous, inconvenient place by the tills.  I could sense the queue forming behind me and could feel my blood pressure rising when I heard a voice behind me say “Would you like me to pass your basket over to you?”  My Saviour!  I managed to get to the till, he passed my basket over and most of the people in the queue looked relieved on my (and their own) behalf.  If only someone could hold my basket and someone else could push my pram (and chase my toddler) every time I’m out shopping, life would be far less stressful!

With Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter in hot pursuit of each other this year, the shops seem to be struggling to accommodate all the seasonal merchandise.  In fact, in Sainsbury’s today (bearing in mind it’s Valentine’s Day in just two days time) had an aisle dedicated to all three events.  You’d think this would mean that the stock was bursting off the shelves, but quite the opposite  - it was almost as though they were slightly flummoxed with how best to market everything and had just give up.  The aisle had lots of gaps on the shelves and I’m not talking ‘selling like hot cakes’ gaps.  These were gaps that simply hadn’t been filled.  Usually, the supermarkets try to shove the merchandise for any event down our throats, but quite the opposite was happening here.  It even confused me as Mother’s Day teddies merged into Valentine’s teddies and chocolates into Easter Eggs.  It’s a wonder I didn’t end up coming home with a Rolo Easter Egg for my husband for Valentine’s Day!  I’m just surprised they didn’t make more effort – normally they go to any lengths to get us to part with our cash.  So, there wasn’t much love in the air for Valentine’s in my local Sainsburys.  Let’s just hope the other stores are managing to rise to the occasion!

When you’ve been walking up and down the aisles doing your weekly shop, sometimes a nice cup of tea is called for (funny how a cuppa can work wonders – a brew seems to solve every problem in Eastenders!)  So, it’s fortunate then, that many Supermarkets have their own café, although it does help if they’re well stocked and it’s even better if they’re, well, just open really!  The Café at my local Sainsbury’s is always in complete chaos.  It’s great for the fact that it’s cheap – you can buy the kids lunch without getting out a bank loan – but they never seem to be able to cope.  The first time I went in I made a simple request for a hot chocolate, no cream, which the lady took approximately 10 minutes to make and asked me twice if I needed any cream!  On another occasion they had an offer on for half price mince pies when you bought a hot drink.  We just fancy that, thought my Mum and I, so I queued up, asked for it and the man behind the till just stared at me blankly.  “We haven’t got any Mince Pies” he said.  “You’ve got an offer on I said”.  Another blank expression.  So, having tempted us with something they couldn’t deliver, we had to settle for a piece of shortbread each.  I suggested he move the huge promotional sandwich board at the café entrance to avoid repeated requests for mince pies, but my advice seemed to fall on deaf ears.  Then today, when I went in I was told they were only serving hot drinks, which was fine by me.  Just 2 seconds after serving me they decided the café was closed, with no explanation, so all the pensioners who then came in search of a must needed cuppa were turned away.  Oh, and don’t get me started on the time I had a cooked breakfast at the Asda café and was told they’d run out of mushrooms – err, you’re selling them just a couple of metres away, it’s not hard to stock up!  So come on supermarkets, put some effort into your cafes!

I was looking at the Valentine’s card in the shop today when a lady came up to me and said “When’s it Valentine’s Day”.  I told her it was Thursday and she said “I suppose I’d better send a card then.  What Day is it today?”  “Monday”, I told her.  I kind of admired her laid back (somewhat confused) attitude to it all!  She saw the cards and thought of buying one as an afterthought, rather than me having it on my ‘To Do’ list.  So, are you swept up by all the consumerism of it all?  Do you feel the peer pressure to buy a card and gift for your other half or do you stick to your guns, refusing to be forced into romance?  I agree, we should be romantic every day of the year, not just February 14 and our romantic gestures shouldn’t be dictated by the retail giants and advertisers, but at the same time, I like an excuse to be romantic, to have a nice meal out mid week or share a bottle of champagne.  Ok, I know you can do this whenever you like, but with hectic lives and kids and housework and shopping, it’s sometimes nice to be given a prompt, an excuse, a reason - whatever you choose to call it- to to take some time out for romance.  And, if the retailers add to their profits in the process, then fair enough!

It would seem I’m currently having a run of good luck where shopping at the Supermarket is involved (unless we include my scrape in the Sajnsburys carpark, but as a newly qualified driver I’m going to try to put that incident out of my mind!)  So, a customer was kind enough to let me pay for my shopping without waiting in the queue behind him, then this evening, I was waiting to pay for a couple of items and the cashier asked the man she was serving if he had a Clubcard.  He said he didn’t and turned to me to ask if I wanted his points.  I’d only popped in for a bottle of wine and some nappies, so was delighted to accept the points accumulated from his £60 shop.  It’s so refreshing to come across fellow human beings who are aware of others – he didn’t have to offer me, a complete stranger to him, his points, but it was a nice thing to do.  I just hope he left the shop and was the recipient of a good deed, because I’m a great believer in what comes around goes around and when people do good, they deserve good things. 

Just as I was starting to think chivalry was dead, I was pleasantly surprised to discover it does still make an appearance from time to time.  I popped to Sainsbury’s the other evening to pick up a much deserved bottle of wine for the hubby and me and a couple of chocolate treats.  The queues at the till weren’t particularly long and the at the till I chose there was just one man in front of me.  He was loading all his groceries onto the conveyor belt, looked up from his trolley and said to me “Is that all you’ve got?  You can go first”.  I had no problem with waiting and wasn’t expecting this gesture – I’m so used to people being in a rush when I’m at the Supermarket.  Ok, by the time I was served he was still getting things out from his trolley, but that’s not the point.  It’s simply a nice reminder that people do still have manners, not everyone is oblivious and wrapped up in their own thoughts.  His gesture would still have slowed him down slightly as the cashier could have started to scan his groceries through rather than completing my transaction.  So, the next time I’m doing a big shop and I see someone with a couple of items behind me, I’ll let them through first.  What about you?

I’m trying to do my bit for the environment by reusing my supermarket carrier bags, but I always seem to forget to take them with me. I’m determined not to let this happen again as the plastic bags are piling up our kitchen. Last week I popped a couple of carrier bags into my handbag and set off to the supermarket, but by the time my groceries were being scanned and put into new bags, it was too late to use them. Next time, I promised myself! On Friday I went into Sainsburys to pick up a few bits. “Do you need any help with your packing” the lady on the checkout asked. “No thanks” I replied as a lady standing at the end of the till proceeded to pack my few items into a bag for me! They had people packing for charity, so as I threw some money into the bucket I consoled myself with the fact that I’d done my bit for charity, if not the environment! So, with even more carrier bags, I took a couple with me when I popped to my local Tesco Express yesterday. The man behind the counter had a carrier bag open ready for me. “I’m ok for a bag thanks” I said and then stood and watched as he put my shopping into the open bag – aarrgghh! Is it me – maybe they don’t hear me, but then again if they’re asking the question, surely they should wait for an answer? I don’t think it is me – I think they’re simply on autopilot as we all get when we do the same job everyday. I completely understand that, but it doesn’t help me in my quest to recycle and save the environment!

Now, I’ve mentioned in the past that when I go shopping with my double pushchair (and my children of course – I don’t go out with an empty pram!) that people often get irritated. Although I believe Mothers are as entitled as anyone else to go to the shops I can appreciate people’s frustrations, so always do my utmost to get out of people’s paths as quickly as possible. I believe myself to be courteous and considerate and treat people how I would like to be treated. However, having encountered some very ignorant and ungrateful people, I’m beginning to wonder if I should be making such an effort. For example, this morning I was in Tesco and was looking for a birthday card for a friend. I parked my pushchair up in the aisle and was suddenly conscious that a man was trying to get past. Even though there was enough room for him to get through, I apologised and moved the pram back. What did he do? Moved straight into the space where I had been looking at the cards, so I couldn’t get back in!! I couldn’t believe it! Maybe he hasn’t realised I was looking at them I thought, giving him a benefit of the doubt he clearly didn’t deserve, because as I stood right behind him he still didn’t move. My youngest son started to cry (maybe at the injustice of it all) so I loudly said “It’s ok, we’re going as soon as we’ve got a card”. The man still didn’t move. So, maybe next time I should leave my double buggy exactly where it is and adopt the same ignorant attitude as other customers try to squeeze past?