Cav's Place

Should have spent the day writing, at least about what happened after being released from hospital, the plan being to run tomorrow, but now I see that the forecast changed and tomorrow evening it’s likely to rain, so I guess I’ll run Tuesday and decided to rush out today in order to also catch that pharmacy still open, since it closes at 4:45 PM on Sunday, and then buy some more things. But while the post was scheduled to appear pretty much only with that text, I did manage to write about the day after getting back, off-line, then I edited it when I got back on-line, at night, so that’s what follows.

Went out just before 4:20 PM, also taking some trash to throw in a bin, and jogged most of the way to the pharmacy. Since it was going to get cooler in the evening and I didn’t want to lose even more time before leaving to put it in my backpack, I had the jacket on, but when I started running I realized it was a bad idea, so I probably lost more time taking it off, holding it until I got close and stopped running, then tying it around my waist. But I was in line at 4:30 PM in spite of that and it moved quickly enough, though there was an annoying moment just before it’d have been my turn, when the person behind me told a pregnant woman to go ahead even though there was one more person between them, and after that person also agreed to let her through I felt pressured to do the same, while obviously mentally lashing out at yet another person worsening the world’s worst problem. Either way, I had to be in that line for the iron, which requires a prescription, but should have gone to the other area for the supplement I decided on, which also has vitamin D, zinc and a negligible amount of magnesium on top of the pointlessly huge quantity of vitamin C I had been prescribed, so after showing her the prescription and asking for that iron, I asked the cashier whether I really needed to do that for that other thing, showing her a screenshot of the product page on my phone, and she said I couldn’t go there anyway because it was closed, so she brought it for me as well, and it was a good thing they found it, since the site listed the stock in that location as “critical”, which seems to mean that no more than two are left. And then I had another pleasant surprise, the total being less than I expected, and she also rounded down, saying it was fine as I was digging for coins.
I was just walking away at 4:45 PM, when the announcement that the pharmacy was closed came, so I rushed outside and then checked the receipt, seeing that a discount I hadn’t known about had been applied for the iron. Then I went to that Mega Image, looking for the food for Micky and Rocky, which is on sale again, but there was none left in that location and when I walked out I meant to first head to that larger one from this area and then to that one that’s close to the clinic… But somehow found myself on the way to Kaufland, which I had meant to go to after that, and didn’t turn around when I realized it, especially since some chicken breast was supposed to have a very good price this weekend and I wanted to see whether I’ll still find any.
Well, I didn’t find that chicken breast, not even a label to show where it should have been, despite looking all over and also asking an employee. But I found discounted watermelons, the price actually dropping while I was there, after I talked to dad. Had given him a beep while I was in line at the pharmacy, meaning to ask whether he wanted something from there as well, but he didn’t call back and I didn’t try again until he sent me a message to say he’ll be back in about an hour, at which point I replied to tell him to call, which he did, so I asked whether I should pick up food for Rocky as well, and grapes and watermelon for my mother, but at that point I assumed I was going to get the watermelon from Carrefour, the prices I had seen in Kaufland being higher… Only for them to drop by the time I had another look, so I decided to get four from there, two of one kind and two of another, since they were quite small. I’m less certain that they’re good than I’ve been so far, but I guess that’s why they reduced the price in that manner for those that were left when it wasn’t even close to closing time. That meant I’d have had a fair bit to carry… And that additional weight increased even more when I couldn’t find the cat litter I get from there, so I had to get the 10 kg bag of another kind, and with some expiring bread for dad the total weight exceeded 25 kg, the self-checkout giving an error when I placed the last watermelon on it. But an employee had kept her eyes on me, probably expecting this, so she immediately logged on to override the weight check for that last watermelon, so I didn’t have to get that one separately. And there was a whole pile of coins in the machine, which I used.
Once I got out and put everything in a cabinet, after having already told dad that he might need to help me carry everything, I realized I had forgotten about the olives I wanted to get, so I rushed back in and got some of those, plus an ice cream, then peed, washed my hands and went out to eat the ice cream… Only for dad to call again while I was doing that, which seems to have caused me to get some ice cream on my mask. But at least I could give him the cabinet number and code, then finished the ice cream, went back in to wash my hands and mouth, that part of my mask and also the spot on my shirt where some ice cream had fallen, then continued on my way to that Mega Image that’s close to the clinic.
Looked at a few expiring things after getting there, but then I went to the cat food area and found pretty much just enough, only leaving a couple of cans of the kinds I wanted… And having a guard stop next to me when I dropped one and was trying to retrieve it from underneath the shelf, asking what was I going to do with all that food, but then realized it was on sale and walked away. So I then took my time to count the cans, then checked some more expiring things… And that made me go to that Equilibrium area, to check the price of one such product… Only to decide that I should get some more peanut butter while I’m there, though I think that by looking through those that were at the back of the shelf I got an older one, the expiration date being four months sooner but deciding to get it because the label lists that there’s no added sugar or salt and the nutritional values also differ to some extent, the amount of sugar and the calories being lower than those listed on the ones that were in front. The bar code was the same and the only listed ingredient is peanuts on both, but maybe they changed something in the recipe…
Either way, I then went to the checkout and the cashier seemed exhausted, when she got to the person who was in front of me she called a coworker to help her with something, saying she’s so tired she doesn’t trust herself with money anymore. But she was definitely still thinking properly, because that other customer made some comment about the pandemic and she said we don’t seem to even want to get rid of it, when her child can wear a mask for six hours but a customer walking in the store for ten minutes apparently finds it too hard, so of course things are getting even worse instead of better and the economy is also affected. Then she also said that about half of their employees have left, many to go abroad, even if they know all too well that it’s not all milk and honey there, and when that customer said it’s because of the money she said that’s hardly the main reason, more important ones being the degree of civilization, the respect received and, in case of those with children, the education they have access to. And I guess the discussion distracted that customer a little, since when I was also done and grabbed my bags a product was left there and the cashier realized the previous customer had forgotten it, telling a guard to place it in a refrigerator. But I hope there was no need to keep it there for long, because I rushed out, looked for that woman, couldn’t spot her right away, just picked a direction which proved to be the correct one, spotted her a moment later, walked up and asked whether she had been ahead of me in the store, not being quite certain, since she had taken her mask off. That seemed to have scared her, and I’d have also been scared to be approached in such a manner, and she seemed about to rush away, but when I told her about the forgotten product she thanked me and rushed back.
Then I made my way to Carrefour, wondering about having another look in Kaufland when I passed in front of it but deciding against it after sending dad another message to ask whether he had retrieved those purchases and being told he had and had just gotten back. With no more need to look at watermelons in Carrefour, the only real reason to go there was to get some grapes for my mother, and dad was uncertain about that when I asked, but he did say I could get about 1.5 kg, so that was exactly what I did… But first I checked the eggs, looking through those that could be picked up individually, which were again deeply discounted, and finding three bio (organic) ones that were neither cracked nor too small. Maybe there were one or two more, but the code wasn’t visible on them and I didn’t risk it, since we otherwise have eggs, after I grabbed some expiring ones with code one on my way back on Friday. Shouldn’t have done that, since I found some with code one this evening as well, and the price was lower, but I couldn’t have known that then. Either way, I added a few more things for myself, then finally walked back.

It was 9:35 PM when I got here, and had plenty to do, so I put a few things away, talked to dad a little, showered and rushed to write this. But since I only posted it at night, while eating, I’ll add here that I had a very late lunch, started at 12:30 AM, though I finished it in some 20 minutes, and then it was 3:25 AM when I started eating dinner, though I had a few small apples after managing to put just about all other things in their place. Also started taking the iron, after that late lunch… But there are a lot of irregular heartbeats again.