Celebrate all, for below is the latest (festive no less) guest post from my dad. Enjoy!
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Steel yourselves readers for a fearsome tale of dire
trepidation, foreboding and unease.
Be afraid, be very afraid, for this could be YOU!
O.M.G!
Key: O. – ‘Oh’ an expression of surprise!
M. – me,
this is a personal statement or expression which I am making.
G. – either
‘God’ or ‘goodness’ as you choose.
In this case
it was “GOOD GOD - HOW MUCH?”
Tis the season to eat Holly apparently.. or some such thing.
Halls are gaily decked, the milk of human kindness flows unceasingly and all
work with frantic diligence to make the ‘winter Solstice celebration’ a success.
(or whatever you wish to call it)
One small part of this fabulous time of year is the relatively
unglamorous yet essential food shopping so necessary for family, fiends and
other associated consumers. After all, the shops may be closed for two whole
days! And what if a long lost family member just happens to drop in on you
whilst passing and expect to be fed and watered?
A safe guide is approx 18kg of turkey per person, a dozen
mince pies, a gallon of exotic beer, whiskey, rum, brandy, vodka and a case of
white wine or fruit based drinks for ladies. (you have of course sent cards to
everyone on the planet? .. of course you have)
So it was that we set out to ride the storm tossed seas of
the supermarket for our yuletide fare. 16 litres of milk was deemed adequate –
I will have beer to drink so that will help to save on tea drinking (I like to
do my bit to ease the stress of the Yuletide holidays).
Six loaves of bread, fish, cooked meat, uncooked meat,
potted meat, meaty meat, vegetables, cuddly toy etc .. dog biscuits, mummies biscuits, daddies
biscuits, chocolates, three bags of flour just in case we have to make our own
bread, two kg of mixed exotic ‘seed’ to mix with bread dough to make it erm
exotic and healthy, washing powder, pork pies, a small roast, a big roast, a
roast roast, a roast which was chicken, a roast which was pork, a roast that
was turkey …. a roast which wasn’t any of the previous … erm did I mention
sweets?
Of course, that wasn’t all by a long way. Gradually the
shopping trolley filled and filled to over flowing .. my mind drifted to an
imaginary checkout where the bill grew and grew and grew. Electronic numbers
clicked and flashed and with dream-like ease, effortlessly multiplying … £5.
..£20 ….£ 157.34 … £1976.51 …… £1,000,000 … number too big .. possibly
infinity!
A whole imaginary nation was slowly tipping sideways and
sliding into a violent storming sea …. The long drowned dead cried out “The
bill is IMPOSSIBLE!”
I shook myself. Shivers of icy fear ran down my back as we
waded our weary way through crowds of shoppers, some frantic to buy everything
that could be bought, some dazed and incapable of choosing which brand of tea
to buy. The checkouts were full. Queues of people stretched down the aisles
awaiting service and supermarket assistants wandered back and forth checking to
see if anyone needed water or a toffee to keep them going.
Eventually … it seemed without ever moving really …. We found
ourselves at the checkout. A humanoid ‘smiled’ at us without looking – she was
smiling, possibly grimacing, and clearly as stressed as we were. Items were
hurled through the scanner and prices danced before my eyes .. £5 … £20 ….. I
daren’t look!
The trolley was refilled and a simple, small piece of
plastic flashed briefly, electronic numbers vanished and we were dismissed with
thankyouhaveanicedaymerrychristashellohowareyoutoday?
The next customer was being instantly processed. I staggered
out of the shop weighed down with purchases.
Thank goodness we decided not to splash out this year and to
budget our food buying J