The Four Runs from the Second Half of November and the First Half of December
This is getting ever more ridiculous, but after two weeks the second part of the post about the marathon remains untouched, as a two-paragraph placeholder, yet I absolutely must edit it and add the rest there at some point, seeing as I continued with the posts about the following runs since then. So I’ll now keep catching up on those regular runs, with a large post about four more of them, but seeing as I once again went out this evening and watched sports before that, I initially scheduled it to be posted at 11:59 PM with only the parts about the actual runs, leaving the odds and ends from those days to be added later. But the fact that, unlike that post about the marathon, everything else is pretty much already written, I edited the post and added everything else in the early hours of Tuesday.
In the early hours of November 20, I didn’t have green onions for the salad, so I just used a regular one, and I was so sure that I’ll start eating dinner before 3 AM that I didn’t really check the time and once again took it too easy, ending up starting to eat right at 3 AM instead of before, but at least I finished at 3:35 AM. Then I got up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, probably after catching another brief nap or two after checking the time the second time I woke up, seeing 12:23 PM and only remembering that the alarm was set for 1 PM instead of 2 PM after going to pee. Either way, when I went to the kitchen I saw that dad had taken the battery out of the scale and realized that he must have done so in order to know what kind it was and buy a new one even though I told him that I had more but hadn’t dug them out yet. Not that it was completely drained, but I had taken it from the kitchen scale, as in the small one, and would have had to take out another one anyway, so I did that then, putting a new one in the larger scale and eventually writing a note about it and asking for that old one back for the small one. Otherwise, I had the usual stuff, the yogurt being one with 4.8% protein and 5% fat from a large cup that was rather banged up, so I moved the rest of it into a jar, and I started a new bag of almonds, also baked, but unsalted. And the sweet thing, eaten after just wasting time on the toilet, once again consisted of two regular biscuits, with added honey. And, after setting some things out for dad, who wanted to cook after he’ll get back, I went out at 3:35 PM, wearing the full running gear, once again with the t-shirt from the marathon of 2023. The reported temperature was about 15°C, dropping by a few degrees by the time I finished.
The time was 46:54.24, with sector times of 4:12.80, 4:57.06, 5:50 (5:49.22), 4:28.34, 4:59.00, 5:49 (5:48.88), 4:22.47, 4:54.03, 5:41 (5:40.78) and 1:42 (1:41.66), making for lap times of 14:59.08, 15:16.22 and 14:57.28. The target was once again to stay under 48 minutes and I pushed from the start, and while the first sector’s time could have been a little better, the second sector was quite nice, and squeezing under 15 minutes on the lap even more so. But it was only at the end of lap two when I wondered whether I could stay under 47:30, and when, after those really nice times on the first two sectors of lap three, especially after stopping for a couple of seconds on the first one, it was quite clear that I was going to manage that, I just went for it, trying to see how much better I could do. And at the end of the lap it looked like I might just have a chance to squeeze under 47 minutes as well. It required a great final sector, but I wasn’t exhausted, so I pushed even harder and wasn’t only safely under 47 minutes, but also managed a truly outstanding time on that final sector… And I was frustrated that I wasn’t a quarter of a second faster, to be able to list it as 1:41, since I have just two such times, along with the old personal best of 1:40. But I got back under 47 minutes, and also covered two laps in less than 15 minutes, for the first time since August.
I was worried about slipping on fallen leaves, but it wasn’t a problem. And, while the lane was once again the main reason why I weaved and went the long way around, there was also one notable problem caused by another person, right at the end of lap one, when I hesitated because a guy on a scooter turned in front of me and another person was between us, so I only saw that he turned all the way around when he cut me off. Otherwise, my back was still causing problems and I felt that I had to snap it from sector two of lap two, being unable to do much about it. And on sector one of lap three I thought that my left shoelace was coming loose, so I stopped to tighten it, but I did so next to the lane and I almost immediately heard someone shout, and when I looked up I saw a cyclist coming straight towards me, so I made room and then resumed running, which meant that I lost a couple of seconds and, on top of not tightening the shoelace, I was worried that I had just started to pull on it and might have in fact loosened it more. But at least it didn’t get untied. And I’ll also mention here that there were plenty of runners, which was unsurprising, seeing as the weather was going to get much worse from the next day, and on sector three of lap three I saw Radu, who was being filmed while running.
Dad got back just after I did, so I got some more things ready for what he wanted to cook, then ate lunch, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and left again a little after 7:15 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol. And I had checked on dad’s Kaufland app and the voucher with a small value which I should have obtained wasn’t there. But I had dad’s metro card, so I took the metro to Basarab, grabbing another recyclable with the deposit symbol before the metro station and then having the metro doors slam in my face, though at least the next one came less than five minutes later. Then I tried to use the recycling machine from that Kaufland only to find that it wasn’t working, but the plan was to first go to Carrefour anyway, so I did that, picking up two more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way and two more from the recycling machine from there, which I used, splitting what I had on two vouchers and ending up with a third for one of those recyclables, the other one not being accepted, so I entered with it and wandered around, my right hip bothering me a fair bit, and eventually just cashed in the vouchers, at a regular checkout, the two that should accept cash having handwritten notes that they also only accepted cards. Either way, I then returned to Kaufland and one recycling machine was working again, and it accepted that recyclable.
After washing my hands, I entered the store a couple of minutes after 9 PM and went to the bakery area, scanning the label for a sweet pastry, since there were no discount labels and there had been no announcement about bakery discounts either. And when that did show up as having the 50% evening discount, I also took the labels for two kinds of bread on my way to put back the one for that sweet pastry, but before I could do that the employee, whom I had noticed eyeing me, asked where did I have those labels from and argued with me, saying that I had no right to take the labels, only the employees can touch them, that it didn’t matter that I was going to put them back in a matter of seconds and I had no business trying to check the price when it was listed on the label, and she ignored me when I said that in other locations there’s a price checker right at the bakery area, quite obviously just to let people scan those labels quickly, but even though at first she said that she had no time for me, when I insisted that one product had a different price than the listed one she started to walk with me to the price checker, though when I pointed out that I was talking about the sweet pastry she stopped and said that the discount had kicked in for that, but not for the bread, not that I could have known that if I’d have just looked at those listed prices that she was saying were all I needed. So I walked a few steps away at first and stared daggers in her general direction while she complained about me to a coworker, and after she stepped away I walked around that area a little and made a point of staring with all the fury that I could muster at that other employee, who actually jumped a little and took a step back when she noticed.
Either way, I did take one of those sweet pastries before walking away from that area and making use of the great evening discounts for fruits and vegetables, though I lost two bags after taking them out, so I didn’t have enough for what I wanted to get… And the time lost to look for those bags meant that others took most of the grapes, and when I finally went there, with a partly torn bag which I had found discarded in that area, an old woman asked me to leave those that were left for her, so I did, though when I saw that she had left a handful of scattered ones I did take them, using that bag, before making my way to the self-checkout after the closing announcement. And I waited in line for a long time, the other customers being awfully slow and needing help, and my attempt to help the woman who was ahead of me didn’t solve anything, but even the employee who eventually came asked for a coworker to sort the matter out. And then, after scanning the label for the grapes, I poured them in the bag where I had the lemons, so I won’t take that second one and wonder about charging myself for it, but the machine apparently canceled the product while I did so, maybe because the weight was varying too much, and then wouldn’t let me enter anything else, so I held up my hand and someone who came over said that I had mixed the lemons and grapes, but I explained what I had done and two employees came over and sorted it out after I scanned the label for the grapes again, and then the one who had logged on entered everything else as well, just asking what I had, without checking. And then I also used the voucher received for that recyclable when I paid, the time on the receipt being 10:16 PM, after which I put the sweet pastry in a separate bag and checked that I had everything before taking the metro back, picking up some more recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I got back right at 11 PM, and there was a lot to wash and clean in the kitchen, though dad had wiped the stove quite well, which was nice of him. I’d have eaten some of the stuff he had dumped into a cup, with the leftover burned oil, but he said that those leftovers were too burned and oily, and while I disagreed, I set them aside and sieved the oil into a bottle, which I mean to eventually hand over in a proper place. And I also cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, forgetting about those burned leftovers at first, so I then went back to leave them behind the building, for the cats that are in that area. Then I ate that sweet pastry and some of the grapes, eventually putting the remaining grapes in their place, after just doing that for the garlic at first. And I washed and cleaned a lot in the kitchen, put what dad had cooked in the fridge, spread out the other purchases, scraped and ate what was left on the two pans, gathered my clothes from the balcony, and finally went to take a shower when it was almost 1:40 AM, being done when it was past 2:15 AM.
The computer looked like it was defragging when I entered my room, so I left it to it, washed and cleaned some more in the kitchen, put all of the purchases in their place, rearranging in order to make room, and finally started working on the salad at 3:15 AM, eating dinner between 4:25 AM and 5 AM… But the computer still seemed to be defragging when I got back in my room, and when I checked the logs I saw that it was true and it had just stopped when I moved the mouse, so I checked and it had just finished the two System Reserved partitions over two hours earlier and nothing else since then, and the Backup partition was usually next, so it had been working on that for over two hours, and I figured that the cause was that I had recently downloaded something to that partition which had left very little free space, so after manually defragging the system partition I tried the Backup one next and it looked like it wasn’t going to finish anytime soon, so I stopped it, deleted that large installer which I didn’t mean to keep anyway, and then tried again, and it finished very quickly. And when I got on-line I saw that the Windows 10 order had finally been dropped off at the pick-up point during the evening. And I got in bed at 6:20 AM.
After once again meaning to finally switch to the new computer, switching the cases, the previous day but only booting it up again as it was, installing a few more things, and then continuing to use the old one, on November 28 I got up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, and had the usual stuff, though the sweet thing was unusual, taking the form of a small piece of pumpkin pie, albeit still with added honey. On the other hand, a spot on my right calf muscle was hurting, which was a concern. But the plan was to run, so I left at 3:35 PM, wearing the full running gear, getting back to what was the usual running t-shirt, the one from the half marathon of 2017, but also an undershirt, as well as the gloves and one of those things on my neck and another instead of the hat, which was still in the laundry basket, plus the jacket on the way, tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was 8°C, dropping by just 1°C by the time I finished.
The time was 46:46.76, with sector times of 4:14.44, 5:00.38, 5:53 (5:52.47), 4:27 (4:26.87), 4:57.41, 5:43.09, 4:17.00, 4:51 (4:50.85), 5:39.21 and 1:45.04, making for lap times of 15:07.29, 15:07.37 and 14:47.06. I wasn’t that pleased with the first sector, but I didn’t read that much into it because I hadn’t been quite sure how much I wanted to push during it, and the second sector’s time was quite nice, while the lap as a whole made me think that I should be able to stay under 48 minutes, which remained the primary goal. But covering lap two in pretty much exactly the same time as lap one, recovering what I lost on the first sector over the next two, made me think that I should be safely under 47:30 and wonder whether I could do even better. So I pushed from the start of lap three, managing great times and, after two sectors, thinking that a good sector three might just give me a chance to squeeze under 47 minutes again, so I went for it… And at the end of the lap I was surprised to see that, despite having briefly slowed on sector two and even stopped on sector three in order to see the time properly, I was pretty much safe already, and a very good time on the final sector as well meant that I ended up being even faster than the previous week.
I already mentioned that, since my eyes wouldn’t focus and I couldn’t see the time properly while running, I slowed to a walk for a couple of seconds on sector two of lap three and even briefly stopped on sector three of lap three, but I actually slowed one more time before that, on sector one of lap two. But other than that there was only a strange feeling that seemed to come from my heart on sector two of lap one, which started to go away after I managed to snap my back to some extent. And it had rained a little, but I wouldn’t say that the lane was that soaked, though it was still damaged in many places and the moisture obviously only made it worse, so it remained the main reason why I had to weave and go the long way around, the people not causing notable problems.
After quickly checking the nearby Mega Image on the way back, I ate a banana and lunch, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt and the undershirt on, and left again at 6:45 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and dad’s metro card, so I went to Obor again, putting the recyclables in the machine from Auchan and using the voucher when I paid for the few things I bought. Then I put the liquid soap in the backpack and the biscuits for dad in an inside pocket of my jacket and meant to go to Penny, but decided to also check a Mega Image on the way, entering with the purchases and getting four bio (organic) eggs that were among those sold by piece, and at least two of them were also large. Then I put everything except those biscuits in a cabinet when I got to Penny and bought a few things from there as well, including a carton of regular eggs that had an unannounced discount, after replacing a few of the eggs in it, which I was uncertain about, with some from another identical carton. And, after retrieving what I had in the cabinet, I arranged the purchases.
It’d have probably been better to go to Carrefour next, but I couldn’t afford the time to go back and forth, so I continued to Kaufland, where I once again put everything except those biscuits in a cabinet, peed and washed my hands, and got a few more things, including some potatoes that had a good evening discount which was probably going to increase later. But, again, I couldn’t wait, and it was getting late even so, and at the self-checkout one of the expiring products wasn’t accepted by the machine, but an employee logged on to override the error, and then she also struggled to straighten the discount label on the other similar product in order to see the code, which she entered in order to allow me to purchase that as well, though I repeatedly said that if it won’t scan I’ll just leave it.
After retrieving my things and adding the new purchases, I rushed to Carrefour, once again putting everything except those biscuits in a cabinet and finding a lot of expiring bread of the kind my grandmother wants, so I took all of it, plus the one fluffy flatbread of that kind that I found is really nice to use if I want to make a sort of pizza that was also among the expiring products, a little garlic, and two sweet pastries and a bread that had the evening discount, managing to get to the last self-checkout that accepts cash that wasn’t yet closed and even finding a pile of coins left in its change tray… Which proved to be a good thing, since rushing hadn’t allowed me to calculate the total and I found that I’d have been a little short otherwise, but as it was I managed to pay for everything… But the cabinet wouldn’t open when I entered the code, so I tried all the others that were still closed, wondering whether I had forgotten which one I had placed my things into, since the doors aren’t transparent in that location, until a guard came to ask what was wrong and then what did I have, so I told him what I had in there, which cabinet I thought it was and the code and he entered the override code and opened it for me, after which I retrieved everything and rushed back to the metro station, picking up one recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way and quite a number of others after getting off at this station.
It was close to 10:20 PM when I got back, so I lost the start of the match. And I had carried just over 14 kg and still only weighed 45 kg. Either way, I then put the purchases in their place, washed or straightened a few of the recyclables, cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, washed most of what was in the kitchen, dad having cooked again, ate one of the sweet pastries and a small bag of bagels, also did the day’s squats, and then took a quick shower with water that was below body temperature by the time it reached my skin. But at least that meant that I got back to the kitchen early and, despite dealing with my bread and also washing a large pot, I still stuck to the dinner schedule.
In the early hours of December 3, I ended up eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:10 AM. Then I woke up when the alarm rang, at 1 PM, and had the usual stuff, with the apple being the last of those spoiling but huge ones, so even after getting rid of the bad parts it was about the size of two regular apples. And the sweet thing once again consisted of one of those small pieces of pumpkin pie, with added honey. And I left at 3:25 PM, once again wearing the training shirt without anything underneath it and that thing on my neck, and while on the way I also wore the jacket, which was tied around my waist as I ran, while running I wore the gloves, though I kept them, and my hands, in my pockets on the way. The reported temperature was 5-6°C, holding steady.
The time was 47:31.52, with sector times of 4:15.55, 5:05 (5:04.81), 5:53 (5:52.81), 4:29.53, 5:01.03, 5:47 (5:46.78), 4:26 (4:25.66), 5:02 (5:01.85), 5:46.53 and 1:47 (1:46.97), making for lap times of 15:13.17, 15:17.34 and 15:14.04. I felt rather off on the first sector and didn’t have high hopes, wondering if I’ll manage to stay under 48 minutes, the question remaining at the end of the first lap, so I pushed more from sector two of lap two, which led to a time after two laps that didn’t just make me feel reasonably safe, but even briefly wonder whether squeezing under 47:30 was possible. That’d have required covering lap three in 15 minutes, or at least no more than a few seconds more than that, which hardly seemed possible, but I still pushed at first, and continued to do so on sector two, but when on sector three of lap three I once again felt rather off, I settled for aiming to just squeeze under six minutes on that sector in order to be certain that I was going to safely stay under 48 minutes… And I regretted that, as well as the seconds lost on sectors two and three of lap three in order to see the time better, at the end of the lap, when I saw that I fell just short of having a chance to squeeze under 47:30 after all. I still gave it everything on the final sector, hoping to somehow make it after all, but I didn’t.
I once again had that strange feeling that seemed to come from my heart pretty much from the start, though on sector two of lap one, when it got worse, I tried to determine its source more accurately and it seemed to have more to do with breathing and maybe a little crap in my chest. But at least it went away after that, until sector three of lap three, when I already mentioned that I was starting to feel rather off in general and this feeling also returned to some extent. And on sector three of lap two I started overheating a little, and I also had the feeling that I hadn’t left everything in the toilet, though that passed after that. Otherwise, the lane was obviously still damaged in all sorts of ways and rather wet, but some of the need to weave and go the long way around was because of other people as well, though they didn’t cause any notable issues, the possible exception being when a dog went for my legs and I quickly stepped aside before the owner pulled on the leash, but by the start of lap three I realized that I couldn’t recall whether that happened on sector two of lap two or at the end of sector one of lap two. And, as I already mentioned, on sectors two and three of lap three I slowed to a walk for a couple of seconds in order to see the time better, possibly even stopping for just an instant on the first occasion, so I should have squeezed under 47:30 without that loss of time. Plus that I probably lost a little bit of time whenever I took the glove off in order to press the button and then put it back on.
After getting back, picking up a recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way, I ate a banana and lunch, did the day’s squats, changed, albeit leaving the shirt on, and after the handball match, at 8:45 PM, I went out again, taking the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and also the tiny and old piece of fish which had fallen on the floor after dad had fried fish, quite some time before, and which I kept meaning to give to a stray cat but kept either forgetting in the fridge or just carrying around because, the couple of times when I did remember to take it, I strangely didn’t find stray cats to give it to… And I bumped into dad just after walking out of the building and he gave me a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol. And then, after making a small detour but still not seeing a stray cat in the immediate area, when I spotted one on a fence I put that tiny piece of fish in front of it, to at least be able to say that I finally gave it to a cat, even if it was quite clearly not a stray and probably wasn’t interested in something like that. And I picked up some more recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way to Kaufland, starting with a crushed can that I then tried to straighten to some extent.
When I got there I found a cart with the coin left in it, connecting it to others and retrieving the coin… And then seeing that the people who were taking their purchases out of their cart when I did that just left theirs there, also with the coin in it, so I connected that one as well, also retrieving that coin. And then I found yet more recyclables with the deposit symbol in the bins that are around the recycling machines from there and managed to put everything in, though quite a number of the recyclables required quite a number of tries, and removing the lids in case of three of them. The machine even accepted a bottle that I found there and which didn’t have the deposit symbol on its label but on which I placed that label that did have the deposit symbol which I had been carrying around for some time, after taking it off a plastic bottle that was too crushed. All of this led to having three vouchers, since the machine gave me one voucher on its own after finally accepting the first recyclable and then it timed out while I was putting that label on that other bottle at the end.
After washing my hands, using the room for disabled people, I entered the store a few minutes before 9:30 PM, grabbed a lettuce of a different kind that had a good evening discount and some deeply discounted expiring germinated wheat, and then just got some bun that seemed like it should be sweet from the bakery area, after scanning the labels for the cheap buns that were left and confirming that those had no evening discounts. But I didn’t scan any of the discount labels, and since I didn’t hear any announcement stating anything else, I assumed that the listed discounts of 50% were correct, so I didn’t touch the two much nicer buns that were left. And then I just got two yogurts and two kohlrabies, the kohlrabies also having a good evening discount. On the other hand, I didn’t find what I had otherwise gone there for, so after looking around as much as possible I was just starting to use the self-checkout when the closing announcement came, the frustrating thing being that the bakery product showed up as having a 75% discount, which probably meant that those nice buns had that discount as well and I should have scanned the labels to check… But it was too late to go back at that point, so I just continued, using the two vouchers with a small value while paying and cashing in the one received for all of the other recyclables, after which I arranged the purchases a little.
When I got outside I found another cart with a coin in it, so I connected that one to others as well, retrieving yet another coin. And on the way back I entered two Mega Image locations, putting my things in a cabinet both times but only locking it the second time, getting two buns for the price of one from the first one, each costing what the cheaper one of those nice ones should have been at Kaufland if they actually were discounted by 75%, and a sweet pastry, with the 50% discount, from the second one, and then retrieving my things.
I got back just before 11:10 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, washed what was in the kitchen, ate the sweet pastry from Mega Image, put most of the purchases in their place, and went to shower a little before 12:30 AM, the water being only a little above body temperature. I was done a little before 12:55 AM and, after picking the kohlrabi leaves and using the small ones, along with the worse leaves from that lettuce, for the salad, I started eating dinner at 3:15 AM, but still managed to finish at 3:40 AM. On the other hand, I saw that there had been no visits that day, and before going to bed I bought two more games for what ended up being my little giveaway on the GOG.com forums, plus one for myself, which I installed after getting up. And I’ll also mention here that, in the early hours of December 5, I ended up eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:25 AM, though I also wrote a message during that time and the last several minutes were spent gathering what was stuck on the plate, and got in bed at 5:25 AM.
On December 10, I got up at 1 PM, when the alarm rang, and had the usual stuff, though the yogurt was expired, while the sweet thing consisted of two nicer biscuits, with added honey. The problem was that, while the previous evening the forecast had listed the rain as ending around 2 PM, it had been updated by then, all sites actually listing the worst rain between 3 PM and 4 PM. But I had decided to run that day, and at 3:10 PM, when I went out, it was only drizzling, so I just hoped that it was going to stay that way, which was fortunately the case. Either way, the reported temperature was 4°C, holding steady, and I wore the full running gear, the training shirt, that thing on my neck and the gloves, plus the jacket on the way, tied around my waist as I ran.
The time was 48:48.51, with sector times of 4:20.57, 5:16.16, 6:05 (6:04.40), 4:34.22, 5:06.00, 5:53 (5:52.66), 4:30.88, 5:09 (5:08.65), 6:01 (6:00.62) and 1:54.35, making for lap times of 15:41.13, 15:33 (15:32.88) and 15:40.15. Considering the conditions, I was thinking that I was only aiming to stay under 50 minutes, and after the first two sectors I was having doubts even about managing that, which doubts only increased when I saw that I failed to even complete the first lap in the 15:40 that would be the target lap time for 49 minutes. And then sector one of lap two was only marginally under the target time for a 16-minute lap, so I pushed harder after that, the next two sectors and the lap as a whole making me wonder whether I might manage to stay under 49 minutes after all. So I kept pushing, each sector of lap three making that more likely, and at the end of the lap I was quite certain that I’ll manage to squeeze under 48:45 as well… Only to fail to do so, the final sector being worse than I thought it’d be. And, of course, the time was quite bad overall, and the worst one since the middle one out of the series of three in five days, from the end of September, but it was nevertheless not as bad as I expected under those conditions.
It was obviously very wet, the lane being almost completely unusable and quite a number of puddles requiring me to pick my path carefully or go the long way around, but the weather also meant that there were only a handful of people in the park… Yet one of them did cause me to lose some time on sector one of lap three, when I caught a girl who was walking slowly, with her eyes on her phone, just as she reached one of those puddles, and not wanting to go through it meant that I was stuck behind her for a few seconds. And I also hesitated and slowed for a moment at the end of sector two of lap three, when several ducks who were on the other side of the path decided to rush to the lake just as I was about to pass by them. But I probably lost more in order to check the time, since that caused me to slow to a walk for a second or two on that same sector two of lap three, while on sector three of lap three I actually stopped for a similar amount of time, for that same reason. And there was probably a little more time lost when I took the glove off and then put it back on, and maybe also when I was looking at the time in general. As for physical issues, I started feeling like I hadn’t left everything in the toilet almost from the beginning, and while that feeling soon passed, it returned with a vengeance on sector three of lap two, and on sector one of lap three it was even worse, making me think that it was actually going to be a serious problem… Only for it to suddenly go away for a while, and when it returned again, on sector three of lap three, it was faint and nothing to really worry about.
I picked up a can with the deposit symbol on the way back, straightening it in my hand, since it was somewhat crushed. Then I ate a banana and lunch, with a small bag of nicer, albeit recently expired, bagels instead of bread, and did the day’s squats, and a little later dad called to say that he was bringing that old and large radio and needed my help to carry it up, so I went down to help him, and finally went out again just before 8:05 PM, without taking the headphones, which felt weird, but taking the recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I put those recyclables, plus the two that I picked up on the way, in the recycling machine from Carrefour. Then I got some expiring products, though the ones that were for dad had blood from other products on them, and while they were shrink-wrapped, I didn’t want to take them like that, so I used the paper that some bags of sugar had been wrapped in to wipe them as much as I could. And the total was enough to allow me to use the voucher which I had received for previous purchases, but not the one received for the recyclables as well, and I still had to use a regular checkout in that location, and after the cashier also charged me for the bag that the spoiling apples which I had bought were in and took away the receipt that had that voucher received for previous purchases, when I wanted to cash in the voucher received for the recyclables she said that she was new and asked a coworker to help her with it. And she didn’t give me the receipt for my purchases, and when I told her that she said that she had thrown it away already, so I walked away, and I did so without counting what she had given me that carefully, just checking that I had three 1 RON bills and a larger one, which should have been a 5 RON bill. That will become relevant later, but at that point I was in a hurry and wanted to wash those products a little as well, so I went to the bathroom and did that.
Since it was already late by then, I rushed to Kaufland, jogging most of the way and, after putting the purchases in a cabinet and washing my hands, it was 9:35 PM when I entered the store. Then I scanned some price labels from the bakery area, but that didn’t help in case of those slightly sweet buns, since the price checker stated that the product was not found, while it otherwise just confirmed that the other products that didn’t have discounts listed really had none. Still, I took one of those buns, meaning to leave it if I’ll see the full price at the checkout, which wasn’t the case. Either way, I then rushed to grab some other things as well and just after the closing announcement I dashed to also have a look at the non-refrigerated expiring products before taking my place in line at the self-checkouts. And while waiting in line I calculated what the discount should be for my shaving cream, since it was going to be applied at the end, and it was, and I also used the picture of the QR code for dad’s store app again. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything before walking away when it was past 10:10 PM.
On the way back, right on the street, I spotted a debit card, stopping to pick it up and then glancing around after crossing, to see whether anyone seemed to be looking for something. But I didn’t spot anyone, so I then walked away with it, meaning to leave it on one of the ATMs from the branch of the issuing bank that I knew I was going to pass by on the way back… Only to be unable to do so, because when I tried to use it to unlock the door, there was a message that the system was out of order, so I held on to it and decided to go back out the following day, to actually leave it at a branch, unless I’ll happen to find the owner on-line before then, which I didn’t.
I got back a little after 10:40 PM, then I put the purchases in their place, washed most of what was in the kitchen, and put some other things in that slightly sweet bun, the result actually being quite nice when I ate it… But I picked it up with a fork and ended up biting that fork when I was about to finish, chipping a front tooth a little, though the damage was just something that I felt with my tongue that night and not anything otherwise noticeable. Either way, it was 12:35 AM when I went to wash and almost 1:20 AM when I was done, and I ate dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:50 AM.