When we went to Costco the other day, Manolo was eyeing the giant tins of Walker's shortbreads but decided on a huge bag of a more local sweet: roscos de vino, a kind of flaky round cookie made with wine and lots of anis and such. Not my favorite thing but we only see them at Christmas so...
and indeed, sticker shock at the check-out but we did load up on lots of meat and all my supplements.
Your neighbour's frustration will remind you of why you will be moving. :/
*looks up cookies* Oh! Those look good. I wonder if I can find some around here, to try them?
*nodding* We needed all the meats, and this is the time of year when everyone resumes their vitamin D supplements.
Dear Friend H. and I were talking after class and my poor love, she is so stressed. "Cousin" W. is having a terrible reaction to his COVID booster, so she's sleep deprived, and my mentioning a friend who's made it into a rent-controlled apartment in NYC brought up their lease ending in April. The thought of having to move and nothing to move into - oh, I just want to wrap her in about 10 blankets and hug her.
In fairness to them, the other major clinic closing only happened in the last six months, and the ferries have been borked more recently than that. I am a little surprised that they're surprised by the restaurants and taprooms closing early, but Connecticut is on the other side of the continent and I don't know what their labor issues are like.
Also, it's "shoulder season", which means that them as can afford it are heading south until March and the tourist traffic will fall off a cliff after New Year's.
Oh, they absolutely can! They're only fit for baked goods and smoothies after, but they freeze well. I don't peel mine because I don't have enough space in my freezer to do the recommended "put them on a rack inside a sheet pan until they're solid, then stash them in a freezer bag" bit, but if you do, it's less work when you're ready to use them.
Is there not a recycling bin for the cardboard, or has that service gone the way of a lot of things during the pandemic? We don't have any sort of curbside recycling pick-up out here in the boonies, so we have to drive 20+ miles to drop off our recyclables. I don't mind it, but sometimes I think it'd be nice to just be able to put it all on the curb.
re: long checkout lines at Costco, I do wish their app had the shop-and-go feature that the Sam's Club app has. You just open the app, scan in the codes and then pay, all on your phone. No checkout line, though you do have to wait in line at the door for them to check (which... I'm not really sure what good that does, especially on shop-and-go where they only check a couple of things against the receipt, but oh well, it's usually quick).
There are recycling dumpsters for the cardboard! They're just full to overflowing, between online shopping and folks moving in - I have pointed anyone I find unloading boxes at the BI Box Exchange ("you will have people fistfighting in the comments, and they will come to your house and take all the boxes away") in the hope of keeping at least some of it in use.
That's interesting! Do you find it makes a difference?
It does for me. I love being able to just go through, put things in the cart and scan them as I go, then swipe to make the payment before heading for the door. Saves a good ten minutes, probably, because Sam's checkouts are usually very long. It's also better than using the self-checkout lanes, which they have similar to Costco's, because you don't have to take everything out of the cart and put it all back in. I read that Costco has no plans for a scan-and-go app, because they want the customer to have the experience of interacting with their cashiers, which, eh, as an introvert, no thanks, not needed. They also think it would mean people would buy less, but, honestly, if I'm in any way a typical warehouse club member, I buy what I need regardless of the type of checkout I use.
I've found that Costco fills a niche for things that I can't get at Sam's (the rotisserie chicken!), but overall for the shopping experience, I like Sam's better. (Plus they still have samples! LOL)
The Costco run sounds fun, apart from the queue at the checkout, anyway.
Your bit about your new neighbours made me smile because yesterday, on our local FB page, there was a post from someone who moved here about 3 months ago which asked;
What time do people normally eat their evening meals here on the Iom? Everywhere seems to stop serving food really early which makes me think that people eat a lot earlier than I do. Also, what is considered late to call people? When does evening become night? And people go to bed?
Different islands, same surprises for people from big cities!
Going to Costco is fun! Like IKEA, the trip is better made on a weekday, and it's much too easy to get caught up in "Ooooh, neat, they have these!" moments and find oneself at home with two pounds of cremini mushrooms, but I do find I enjoy it more often than not.
Oh, dear, someone's found themselves on a bit of a learning curve. :D It's early days, but I'm beginning to wonder if my neighbours are going to adapt; I've heard grumbles about internet speed and the lack of street lighting at night. The one I'll cheerfully back them on - we've been trying to get the county public utility district to expand community fibre past downtown for years - but the other? Thanks, no, we like being able to see a few stars at night.
Our internet speeds are pretty good - which is cool. We have streetlights in town, but outside town we have a lot of black sky - and in town some go off at 11pm, others at midnight, and only very few stay on until 1pm - after that - black!
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and indeed, sticker shock at the check-out but we did load up on lots of meat and all my supplements.
Your neighbour's frustration will remind you of why you will be moving.
:/
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*nodding* We needed all the meats, and this is the time of year when everyone resumes their vitamin D supplements.
Dear Friend H. and I were talking after class and my poor love, she is so stressed. "Cousin" W. is having a terrible reaction to his COVID booster, so she's sleep deprived, and my mentioning a friend who's made it into a rent-controlled apartment in NYC brought up their lease ending in April. The thought of having to move and nothing to move into - oh, I just want to wrap her in about 10 blankets and hug her.
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Also, it's "shoulder season", which means that them as can afford it are heading south until March and the tourist traffic will fall off a cliff after New Year's.
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re: long checkout lines at Costco, I do wish their app had the shop-and-go feature that the Sam's Club app has. You just open the app, scan in the codes and then pay, all on your phone. No checkout line, though you do have to wait in line at the door for them to check (which... I'm not really sure what good that does, especially on shop-and-go where they only check a couple of things against the receipt, but oh well, it's usually quick).
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That's interesting! Do you find it makes a difference?
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I've found that Costco fills a niche for things that I can't get at Sam's (the rotisserie chicken!), but overall for the shopping experience, I like Sam's better. (Plus they still have samples! LOL)
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Your bit about your new neighbours made me smile because yesterday, on our local FB page, there was a post from someone who moved here about 3 months ago which asked;
What time do people normally eat their evening meals here on the Iom? Everywhere seems to stop serving food really early which makes me think that people eat a lot earlier than I do. Also, what is considered late to call people? When does evening become night? And people go to bed?
Different islands, same surprises for people from big cities!
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Oh, dear, someone's found themselves on a bit of a learning curve. :D It's early days, but I'm beginning to wonder if my neighbours are going to adapt; I've heard grumbles about internet speed and the lack of street lighting at night. The one I'll cheerfully back them on - we've been trying to get the county public utility district to expand community fibre past downtown for years - but the other? Thanks, no, we like being able to see a few stars at night.
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