Getting to know my supermarket, again

Hanno did the grocery shopping yesterday; he does it almost every week because I don't like going to the shops. I was preparing lunch when he came home and he said it was difficult finding what I had written on the list. I do put things on there such as: "with real juice", "only Australian" or "free range only". Today he had to ask the shop assistant to help him find Granita biscuits. I need a packet for the Christmas cheesecake. They searched and finally found them on the top shelf. That tells me that soon we won't be able to buy Granitas from Woolworths any more. They will be gone from the shelves like so many other old Australian brands. I wonder if you have found a similar scenario in your local supermarket.

 It occurred to me that although I go shopping on the odd occasion, I haven't been shopping on a regular basis for years, maybe five or six years. I've decided I should go again to reacquaint myself with the shelf placement and the brands. My guess is that I'll find a wasteland littered with made in China/India/Thailand generics and non-food, it will make me angry and I wont want to go back. Nevertheless, I need to do it so I know the true state of the supermarkets and not my old version of them. We don't always do what we want to do.

Not shopping is my preference and if I could live without shopping at all, I'd be happy. Here at home I revel in the almost-solitude, I enjoy having the sun on my arms, I love getting my hands dirty, I love the rhythm of my day and the work I do. Being so immersed in the work here, which is an equal mix of physical and intellectual work, has made me a different person. There was time when I searched for meaning and happiness in shopping malls and crowds, now I know where I can reliably find it. It's always right here under my nose, at home.

I'm watching a TV program called "The Abbey" at the moment and although I am by no means a religious person, I feel that life in that Abbey somehow reflects my life here. The Benedictine nuns in the abbey are living a cloistered life of gardening, craft, preparing meals and regular prayer. Here in our home we live according to our values while maintaining simplicity in our lives. I live by sunrise and sundown rather than an alarm clock or watch. We eat at the same time every day, taking a main meal at midday, we tend our chores, and each day runs to a gentle routine that makes the work satisfying and enriching. I do not pray but I am mindful and have periods of quiet reflection. The work I do here defines my character as much as it defines my days. Some would believe that being at home most of the time would be a burden but I find much of the world outside my own community superficial and loud. It's easier to stay at home but from next week on, and possibly for the next few weeks, I'll do the shopping at the supermarket and try to make sense of it.

I wonder what changes you've noticed in your local supermarket in the past few years. Have you seen a big move towards foreign products and generics? Are the old brands disappearing?

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