Let's Make a Deal

I just wanted to pick up a handful of things but knowing that the prices are cheaper there, I drove to Coquiltlam's "Great Canadian Superstore". Traffic jams began before 3 pm today. Why is that? Doesn't anyone work during the afternoons anymore? The five kilometre trip seemed like fifty. I sat and waited at the Braid Street traffic lights long enough to see that gas was 89.5 cents a litre.

At last, I parked in the twenty-acre parking lot, got an oversized cart, and pushed it around three acres of building. Sprinters could train for the Olympics just by running up the dog-food aisle. Old ladies get lost and have to ask for directions. There's enough toilet paper sitting on the shelves to hang on every bathroom wall between here and Saskatoon.

All items on list -- in cart: yes. Now, it was time to roll up to the check out. Why are there 24 registers when there are always only six cashiers on duty? I had 13 items and didn't feel as though I should bother the frantic-eyed customers in the 12-item, express lanes. A massive lady in front of me was obviously down from New Hazleton stocking up on a year's supply of food for the whole town. Oh, perhaps there was a more obvious reason why she was a massive lady. Eventually, I swiped Interac and said something nice to the frazzled, little girl at the register. Then it was back out on the road to New Westminster. At least I was going opposite the flow now.

I probably saved 63 cents over walking to the corner store.