Hypocrisy In The Kitchen

    I broke a rule today. One of my stricter rules I try to abide by. I don't shop in supermarkets anymore, except I just did. I don't know how long I've had this rule, it feels like forever but it's probably only been a month or two. I don't consider myself a local yokel, but I do believe that community livelihoods are important. I am of the strong opinion that variety is one of the many favoured spices in the spice rack of life (yes that was much more convolutedly put than I could have done, but so be it). It's ironic, then, that people shop almost solely in supermarkets for their variety.

    This town has a tesco a little out of the way of the high street. Most don't enjoy walking from one end to the other, which is understandable if you have other things to do, or are elderly or such. So if you need an overall shop, the obvious place to go is Tesco.

    Before you get to this monolith there is a smaller Coop store. It's quite a quaint little establishment (yet there are three in Blairgowrie itself) and I shopped there as an alternative for a while. An oft-put argument against it and in favour of Tesco is that there is not very much variety. You simply can't get everything you need.

    As I work in a newsagent I shall use this as a comparison. Tesco has a vast selection of magazines, that area alone probably constitutes most of the size of my shop, but their variety is not quite as vast as ours. We allow customers to order in any magazine they'd like, we'll put many new and odd choices out on the shelves. The T-dawg will not allow customers choose anything not already on the shelf, and there is no ease of access when it comes to getting anything peculiar you'd like. My point here is that choice is only what you're given, and they don't give you anything other than what's there. If you go into smaller independent shops more often than not they'd be happy to get something unusual in for you. I was given an old fashioned typewriter not so long ago (and what a gift that was) and I feared that when it dried up that was me ruined, but the local stationery shop was happy to get me some typewriter ribbon, no problems at all.

    I like to chat. If I'm in a comfortable situation where a subject I am passionate about crops up (books mostly), there's little to do but to run away. There's a niceness to being able to chat to workers in small shops, you get to know people, you find a sort of regularity and routine. The bigger a corporation gets, the more employee turnover there is, you don't see the same face as often, you don't get to know people as they're not around enough for you to form any common ground. I understand that not everyone intends their shops to be social areas but we have the internet if you really want to be faceless, and not everyone must chat anyway. I'm not yet sure what I feel about internet shopping, I appreciate the ability to browse quirky items and for the ease of getting things that may not be in stock in other places, but I am not comfortable with the proposed idea that most shopping will all be done over the internet. We are creatures who came out into the light, only to find that we are bringing ourselves back into our caves to stay.

    I'm not trying to say that everyone must shop in small stores. I'm fully aware that it is often not cost-effective, I'm absolutely aware that it takes longer flitting between shops than staying in the same massive all-consuming superstore (no bias, I swear).

    I just want the option considered. I mean really considered, look at what you could get in different areas of a town, compare the smiles of people working in modest establishments to those in the gigantics. I just want it made clear what the real variety available is.

    And now I go back on all that I just said, because the reason I shopped there, breaking my rule (of which I set many and break many, was the problem of not being able to get what I needed for this single day. Cream cheese of all things, and golden castor sugar! Of course variety extends to every shop, and I am not blind to the fact that I am cutting my choices by not shopping in a building that is more a warehouse. But if I am to be strict about my rules then sacrifices have to be made.

    I'm a hypocrite and I won't go back on my word, except when I do.

    I should state I am simply attempting new ways to do things, I'm not claiming to be anything special, I don't mean to waste your time here. I don't know quite what I'm trying to gain from any of this, but I won't be giving up just yet. I'm interested in your thoughts (yes you) even if they are ridiculing all of the above.

    This cheesecake better be worth the guilt trip.