The People One Sees

I walked to the grocery store about an hour and a half ago: partly because it was really nice out and it's only about seven minutes away, partly because I needed soda water for a vodka/soda, and partly because I didn't feel like eating left-over chicken and rice from last night's post-run feast.

I've been home for more than an hour, have enjoyed an unexpected Diet Coke (buy one 6-pack, get one free) and can't be arsed to cook up the delicious cous cous fixin's* I bought (cous cous, three colors of bell peppers, spring onions, etc). And I'm really not keen on the vodka/soda anymore.

So what was the point of this post ... oh, yes, right. The people on the check-out lines. One guy had a trolley full of toilet paper. Five 20-packs stacked on top of each other. Either he's planning on some really nasty curry, has a wicked case of amoebas (Flagyl is the worst, trust me), or he works for one of the hotels on Sussex Gardens and their paper goods shipment didn't come in.

The guy ahead of me had very simple dietary needs. One litre of cheap vodka, a 1.75-litre bottle of Dr Pepper, and two Mars bars. I was nearly tempted to offer him one of my peppers (the red one would have complemented his blotchy complexion quite nicely), because one needs a veggie every now and again, eh? Memo to self -- Dr Pepper is clearly not a dermatologist.

And then there was the lady who got off the bus as I was walking home. She had on a mini-skirt-length slicker (black with huge white polka dots), a matching it-girl (slick-girl?) hat from the 60s, stockings that looked like multi-colored tattoos and calf-high go-go boots (in some kind of strange brown pattern) that I think came from the Neptune branch of Primark.

I almost invited her over for some vodka, because she was fantabulous ... in a semi-scary intergallactic supermodel sort of way.

In fact, now that I think of it, it just might be time for this flat's/season's first vodka (never the cheap stuff) and soda (bargain brand, 3 for £1 -- it's all about the balance). And then maybe some left-over chicken and rice.

Spring has sprung and I'm living on the edge.

:: :: ::

Addendum ... ten minutes later

How can this be? There is no vodka in the house?!?!? The horror. This is unheard of. Bottles of nearly every spirit known to mankind (for the guests, of course) and yet nary of drop of potato-elixir for me. I know, I know, it was just a quarter-ago that I was typing I didn't really want a glass of what used to be my life's blood. But now that there's none to be had, I'm really hankering for a cocktail.

Hmmm, which block in the new hood harbors a liquor store? Shouldn't take long to find out, and the weather is still pleasant, if not a little darker.

:: :: ::

Addendum the second, fifteen minutes later ...

Thresher's is only a five-minute stroll away, and they're open till 10 pm on weeknights. They have no Ketel One or Grey Goose, but there is Absolut, in adorably wee 700ml bottles. I refrained from buying two. My world is at stasis again.

Carry on with your evening.

Cheers.