The Grocery:

I went to the grocery store today, and this is what I saw:

• Lots of squalling kids.

• Some angry parents. Like the dad with 3 boys, who was yelling at one of them, and I thought looked ready to hit him. Scary dad, to be sure.

• Some oblivious parents. Like the mom who was yelling for her kid, whom I assumed must be perhaps early elementary-aged. The mom attracted enough attention throughout the store, I thought somebody was going to issue an Amber Alert. But the mom didn't appear overly concerned. A few aisles later, I had to stop my cart for this filthy little three yr. old kid who was ROLLING DOWN THE AISLE FLOOR with two fingers stuck in her mouth. And at the end of the aisle was the same mother. Waiting for the filthy kid. I wanted to explain hygiene to the mom, but refrained.
  
• The groups of consumers who shopped 4-abreast, so that no speedy grocery shopper such as myself could cope cheerfully. But I did try.

• And finally, in the potato department: individually-foil-wrapped potatoes, ready to pop into the oven! And - they cost nearly as much as a bag of potatoes! Yay, marketing ploys for brainless consumers!

On an interesting note: my shopping bill was about 1/2 as high, and the amount of bags in my car were about half as many, as when I shopped when The Boy lived at home.