shewhomust | A week of shopping and breakages

Last week seems to have been a non-shopping week: we still had plenty of vegetables from the previous order, and were exploring the deeps of the freezer. This week, therefore, I have been doing All the Shopping, some of it in non-essential shops ...

On Tuesday we went up to our favourite farm shop. The trip was delayed by the discovery that the car wouldn't start because the battery was flat (not a surprise) and that it was so flat that it could not be bump started (which was). Cur much muttering about modern cars which which don't have starting handles, and which have so many electrical bits that they exhaust the battery just sitting there, and which none the less can muster enough charge to set off the alarm if you use the key to open the door ... The rescue service were prompt and efficient, and sent out a mechanic who declared the battery not only flat but dead, assured us that it had already exceeded its expected lifespan and sold us a new one - so that was our first pirchase, before we even set off.

Wednesday's shopping was ordering vegetables; the greengrocer's website was a bit sluggish, but we got there in the end. Hooray! And my coffee order wasdelivered. Also hooray!

Yesterday I placed an order with Ocado for delivery tomorrow. Going out to the shops was delayed because the recycling collection had scattered broken glass about the road, and it seemed a good idea to vlear it up before driving over it. Then we visited the Weigh Shop - or rather, I did, while

durham_rambler replenished the beer supply - and then we went together and bought Christmas cards from the 'cards for good causes' shop - and not a day too soon, as the first card arrived in this morning's post. (I don't know why the post has started arriving in the morning, after years of mid-afternoon deliveries, but I'm not complaining.)

Then we came home and had a cup of tea, and I managed to break

durham_rambler's favourite mug: carrying the tea tray downstairs afterwards, I trod on a step that wasn't there. The damage was limited to one mug, which could have been a lot worse, but it was a good mug.

And this morning I phoned my supplier and ordered cheese and game.

I'd been telling myself to stop fussing, and that really shopping was not a lot of work. Writing this makes me think that actually, that was quite a lot of shopping. And while that's enough food to last a while, buying a couple of small gifts is a reminder that it's now time to shop seriously for Christmas presents. I know how lucky I am that financially none of this is a problem; if buying things is my contribution to saving the economy, I shall try to prioritise those bits of it that I want to save.