Nope.
When I’m looking to catch up with neighbors and friends, I head to Hannaford, our local grocery store. (I live a spicey life, eh?) I’ll give you a quick example of why it’s my go-to place to catch up with friends.
It’s the Saturday before Easter and you guessed it; we need a few things for our meal the next day. I gather up the grocery list from my lovely bride and head out.
As I walked up and down the aisles looking for pineapple chunks for the ham, I get a text from my sister and end up texting back and forth a bit. As I looked up from my phone, I see a woman who looks an awful lot like my sister. I did a double take. It was not her, obviously. But I went up to her and told her my story. I said that she looked just like her. She smiled and we both went on our way.
Heading down the vegetable aisle, I spotted a co-worker of mine. I asked if she needed any help finding stuff (I’m so funny.) and she said no, then smiled as she recognized me. She was with her fiancé from whom I’ve heard good things. I introduced myself. He gave me a big smile. It was great to finally meet him. They talked of their early morning hike and then asked if I had run as I was wearing my bright neon-yellow running sneakers. I had, as a matter of fact, five and a half miles. (I’m in training to be the oldest man on the earth to still run. I’m getting close.) I wished them well and they were gone.
Looking for a pumpkin pie in the bakery section, I watched a young worker woman covering a cake with tons of frosting. I asked if I could lick the bowl when she was done frosting. She smiled. (I thought I heard her mumble something about just get away from me, old man, I’m not sure.)
Another friend of mine was in the prescription aisle. We caught up on a ton of stuff. As you don’t see each other often in the winter, we had lots to discuss. Easter plans, who’s coming to eat, their kids, her husband skiing with one of the girls, her broken bone that is healing. I didn’t know she broke it. I said sometimes it’s good (well, not good actually, a broken bone sucketh) but when you’re healthy once again, you appreciate it more. She agreed, not to the part about braking a bone, of course. She left me and continued to shop.
As we were talking another good friend came by. He’s in my basketball pool so we discussed how we were doing, what strategies we used and how much we lament Syracuse not making the tourney. He had flowers and baked goods for their family gathering. Then he was off.
While grabbing the half and half (we can NEVER be out of that or my lovely bride will not be happy), I passed an older gentleman, (probably my age), who was sharing his thoughts with another customer, standing close by. He commented, “When you get older, you get crankier about things, like the price of eggs.” I couldn’t disagree. I personally get angrier about lesser things than that, but I’ve been an old fart since birth.
In between these times, I was picking up a prescription that wasn’t quite ready. The young lady apologized and said that it wasn’t done. She asked me to come back if I had more shopping to do. I was done shopping; I went through the checkout as she promised it would be done when I got back. It was not. She said she was sorry once more and I said it was no problem. I could see they were swamped. I said I was going to buy batteries for my dead car FOB at the hardware store across the parking lot. When I came back, it still wasn’t ready. I feigned anger. I said that I should get some free chocolate for waiting so patiently. She smiled. (Hey, I’m a funny guy.) Once more, I headed out for yet another quick errand. When I came back, it was ready. She smiled and I did too. I thanked her and said to enjoy her day off tomorrow, which I overheard in the five times I got in line to wait for my prescription.
Finally, heading out the door, I almost made it but ran into my fishing buddy. We’re ready to fish even though it’s way too early. We made plans to try a couple of new spots this spring. He asked if I had respooled my rods yet as I bought a new fishing line spooler after many years. He has been doing this for me for years. I have to google how to do this before spring. He wished me well and he was gone.
As I approached my car, another friend (also in my basketball pool - but not in last place, honest!) was cleaning the outside of his car while waiting for family to return. I yelled over that he could clean my car next. He gave me a look that said ‘no’. He came over and we chatted about, what else, my basketball pool. After more friendly bantering, he bid me farewell.
So that was my afternoon. As you can tell, the grocery store has been become my favorite neighborhood hangout.
Hey, it could be worse. We could be headed to the local pub which might be far more expensive.
But not by much, have you seen the price of eggs?
I love the shoutout to Syracuse basketball! Go ORANGE!