The Shopping Cart

 

 

Every time I go to the supermarket I have to deal with the whole cart issue.  Some stores want you to deposit money for the cart, thereby ensuring that you'll bring it back.  It makes sense.  I used to live near a store where more than a few people took the carts home, or at least to the  bust stop.  It certainly cost the store money to go out and round up these carts (imagine the advertisement for this job in the paper--wanted:  shopping cart wrangler)  They tried using a deposit system for their carts but all they got were a bunch of busted locks, and then they had to hire someone with a pickup truck to go out and wrangle all those carts.

So, I can see the financial expediency of having a deposit system.  It might make me feel like a criminal, but the carts get returned.  It might make me opt for a small carry basket (in which case I buy less because the teeny weenie basket gets full and heavy quickly) but the carts get returned.

The biggest problem that I usually encounter is that I don't have the specific coin they are looking for when I enter the supermarket.  Sometimes they want a quarter, sometimes they want a loonie (that's a one dollar coin for those of you not familiar with Canadian currency).  I have yet to come across one that requires a twoonie, (if you understand loonie, you should be able to figure out twoonie), but I am sure that day is coming.  They say you can easily get change from cashier, but when the store is busy, or everyone is using credit or debit cards.... you just might need more patience than you have.

Sometimes I am forced to use my lucky quarter (I can't really explain why it's lucky, it just is) and then I can't simply pass the cart off to a person racing up to me with another (and probably unlucky) quarter in their outstretched hand.  They give me dirty looks, but there's nothing I can do about it.

One store I went to had an ingenious system.  They put up a notice that if the carts were removed from the store area they would cease to function.  Psychologically this worked great.  What's more, this wasn't just a cool ploy, it was the truth.  One of my friends felt pretty foolish when suddenly their cart stopped moving and would go no further.  This system is probably quite expensive, but I would certainly prefer it.  My hope is that in the future, shopping carts will navigate their own way back to the store and into the line of shopping carts.  That will be perfect...until they rise up against us.

The Friday Phenomenon

 

 

It's Friday.  The weekend is here.  Everything is good.  Just one question.  Why....why does the price of gas suddenly climb on a Friday morning?  To  be clear, the gas price suddenly rose Thursday shortly after midnight.  How shortly?  When it goes up it is probably milliseconds after midnight, but when it goes down, they probably spend a few minutes making sure that a price decrease is really called for.  Of course, this decrease is never on a Thursday night.

I guess I should relax, and not let this gouging rile me up.  I get a free couple of days off, and the oil companies get my money.  Some might see that as an equitable trade.  Some might say that happiness needs to be tempered by some cold hard realism.  If anyone out there really believes any of that..... you might be reading the wrong blog.

I think the price of gas went up by four cents a litre.  For my car, that works out to about $1.60.  I guess that explains the real lack of righteous indignation.  In addition, some of my students told me about the price of gas in their countries.  Amazingly, some people are paying $2.50 a litre and others are paying $0.16 a litre.  Getting this information the way I did, created in me a sense of relief and a wall of tears at the same time.

Changing Cable Packages

If you needed proof that I have given up....look no further.  Today, I changed my cable channels.  I opted to reduce my sports channels in favour of movies.  Even if they do play hockey this year, I won't be watching it on TV.  Actually, I could still watch Hockey Night in Canada (but that's an institution) but there is no guarantee that I would.

Last time there was a lockout we were treated to one year of poker, followed by several years of poker.  As it turns out, it was pretty good to watch.  It's popularity is still quite strong, and I am sure there will be more poker on TV during this lockout.

I generally like it, but I don't love it.  The problem is that they tend to over show some TV poker moments.  I think I have see the one with Daniel Negreanu vs. the loose cannon in pink shirt more than 15 times.  That is probably 13 more times than I needed to see it.

Maybe this time they will find a new sport to showcase.  I suggest Australian Rules Football, or Hurling, or at the very least, bring back the Red Bull Air Race.

As for me, I will do my best to catch up on the movies I have missed.  I'll let you know how it works out.

The Fall TV Season

I think I missed something.  Usually, around this time, I am either getting worked up or rolling my eyes at the new fall TV show ads.  Up to this point, I think I've seen two.  What happened?

Usually I'm inundated with laugh track filled commercials telling me what shows are the funniest new show of the season, or the next Friends.  Usually, I'm waist deep in promos for the next crop of reality shows that depict a somewhat specialized view of the not so real world.  Usually the stars are on parade on every talk show on the planet hyping the fall line-up.

What happened?

Did Hollywood run out of ideas?  That happened years ago, and it hasn't stopped them.

Maybe I have just been spending too much time blogging to notice.

A Ban on Trampolines? Really?

I was eating my breakfast, wondering why it was so cold when the radio news announced that paediatricians were calling for a ban on all young children playing on trampolines.  I can't say as I took this news well.

Don't get me wrong,  I know trampolines are dangerous.  I have seen literally hundreds of scenes on America's Funniest Home Videos that showed people bouncing right off the trampolines into the ground, the side of their house, a doghouse, a tree and many other hard objects.  Granted most of these people were older, most likely drunk, show-offs who obviously got what was coming to them.  Granted, also, that I laughed most of the times I watched them, and only cringed once or twice.



Rosie MacLennan

So, okay, trampolines are dangerous.  I certainly don't want anyone to get hurt, or killed--though I suspect the aforementioned drunk show-offs will just find another way to get themselves on TV.  I guess I just see a few more consequences to banning these things than preservation of weaker strains in our gene pool.

What would Rosie MacLennan think.  She won Canada's only gold medal in the London Olympics.  It is likely that she has used a backyard trampoline a time or two in her life.  Add to that, to reach Olympic calibre you have to start young.  Maybe this is the international community's way of making sure Canada gets no gold medals at the next Olympics.



lethal fun toy of my youth

Do we need more regulations in our lives?   Is a ban necessary?  Wouldn't better parent supervision accomplish much of the same thing?  We lost lawn darts because they were deemed too dangerous.  Part of the fun of that game was its lethal nature.  I am sure there were plenty of lawn dart accidents, but I am sure either alcohol or lack of supervision was a contributing factor.



pathetic safe toy of today

When you get right down to it, a lot of stuff can cause harm.  You could take a horseshoe in the head.  You could get a serious burn from a hula hoop.  You could go careening off the wet banana into a bunch of hard, scratchy stuff (again, I have seen this on AFV).  Once my mother warned that we could take out an eye--and we were playing with a beach ball.   Let's face it, the world is a dangerous place, with or without trampolines.

And Lest I Forget

Shortly after posting this blog (the next day, but the first time I had actually gone outside) I witnessed many more examples of this behaviour,  I also witnessed the other directional phenomenon.  I watched numerous cars that seemed incapable of making a right turn.  Since, in Canada, we are allowed to make right hand turns on a red light (after stopping and making sure the way is clear) I would have thought people could maintain their lanes in this simple activity.

Alas, I was wrong

Making a Left Turn

Why can't the majority of people make a good left turn?

nearest lane, nearest lane!

Everyday, I see people turning left and not entering the nearest lane.  They go careening across two (sometimes three) lanes.  Granted it has been a long time since I took driver's education, but I am pretty sure that isn't what you're supposed to do. 

What could be behind this?  Is it a comfort issue?  Wide turns probably are more comfortable than tight turns.  Is they were driving a bus or a big rig, I probably wouldn't be raising a stink, but when you're driving a smart car....

Sometimes the place they want to get to is a right turn immediately after the intersection.  In that case, I really can't blame them, I have to save my abuse for city planners.  Any car wrecks. are on them.

look there's another one

I am not really sure why I find it so frustrating.  Maybe it's because I have almost been wiped out by cars missing their lanes.  After a turn you don't expect someone to try and pass you on the right, especially after you signalled.  (In this case checking your blind spot is really important).   Maybe it is because traffic would move so much faster if I could make my right turn onto the road instead of waiting while the person misses their lane so that I don't get cut off or sideswiped.

In the future I am sure that we will be able to call every car by typing in their license plate numbers.  We probably won't get to talk to the driver, but the car will probably be listening.