Saturday, May 7, 2011

For 24h supermarkets.

I am actually typing this sitting on my balcony watching the sun setting, and despite the people crossing the road and shouting to me "Is this apartment for sale?!" and me not shouting back because I'm so confused what it is about (not that my apartment is so awesome or it looks like it. My neighbors are selling theirs but people are too lazy to do the simplest math to figure out that the one for sale is not mine), it's great to hear only birds, steps on the sand road and drunk people from the front of the liquor store.

Speaking of stores... last week I visited my local Tesco. There probably isn't anything very fascinating about visiting supermarkets and I usually hate it. But this time I loved it and I remembered why I used to like it so much in the past. It's because now if I go grocery-shopping I do this on a Saturday, around noon. And that is THE worst time you can pick for such activity. Hate supermarkets? Go there in the middle of the night. Go there really early in the morning. You'll love it.

This Wednesday I was late for work, so I had to left later, so I missed the first bus, the first tram, the second tram and had 40 minutes to wait for the second bus, which is its very last run in the day anyway. (I don't know why, back when I was 14 walking by myself through the forest at midnight didn't scare me as much as it does right now and I wouldn't play around waiting for the bus. Maybe  I was less aware of sexual harassment in forests at that time of the day). It was cold so I did the whole math to take the right tram and get off at the right stop so that I could go someplace warm. And I ended up in Tesco.

Let me say, Tesco is absolutely my favorite place in the world at 11 PM. It's weird because it's still not that late but so few people were in there!
It's like your alone in the store but not in a creepy I'm-alone-and-the-street-person-is-going-to-kill-me / it-feels-very-Freddie-Krueger. You're alone and can have some fun but there still is security and cashiers and friendly ketchup staring at you from the "expired" stall. It feels like childhood when we were having so much fun when our parents took us to the supermarket and we were still living our own lives not caring about the socially accepted behavior. It feels just like that.
First off you can dance in the aisles. You can drive your cart (if you're buying anything else but candy) in the craziest way. You can be as disgusting as you like and buy as much candy as you like. You can drop this reflex action that tells you to buy vegetables and coloring books just to distract others from the fact that all you're paying for is candy. You can vlog in public. You can get overly excited about that little brain models in the "recommendations for the first communion gift" section. You can try clothes on and not feel dowdy for liking them. And you can sit there for hours, exploring every shelf in your own pace, listening to terrible music inside.

Usually during different conversations there always will be that one person who would awkwardly rant about how consumptionism contributes to the loss of the real values. That would usually be me. I don't know why I like supermarkets in the night so much, especially because I usually don't really buy anything (that's when not having money is okay). They somehow manage to calm me down. There is something peaceful about rows of tomato sauce cans.

 If this was a Thoughts From Places video there would be a meaningful windup to this rigmarole. But I really don't know what would that be, so Nerdfighters around, please help me out. And any other people, I'm sure you know better than I why I like supermarkets so much. Do you have any weird places you go to to calm down?

Today was awesome because a friend wrote to me on Facebook. We were best friends a long time ago and I haven't heard from her since I was 15. I've been meaning to write to her but was afraid she would not find time to talk to me/ be too busy/ not care. But I'm so happy we can meet.

Song of the day: Everybody loves a loser - Morcheeba

I found it very helpful to listen to The Antidote lately. I am so stressed. I myself can't believe how stupid schoolwork can stress me out so much. But apparently it does. Any tips, anyone?

2 comments:

  1. Wow, this is such a beautiful post. Like you, I love being in places at different times of the day, such as early in the morning or late at night. There's nothing more relaxing than wondering through my school's hallways after everybody's left, and feeling this sort of sense of peace within yourself to know that, at the end of the day, things can just be quiet and still.

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  2. I was away for quite a long time, but right now, I looked at your blog again and I'm so happy for you! Congrats for finishing BEDA in a great style!

    And this post is really marvellous :) Good luck with your writing experiences from now on!

    Bogna

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