Daylight Saving finished a week ago here in New Zealand. And therefore Summer is unofficially over, around two months into Autumn.
In what would like an amazing coincidence, the temperature dropped a few degrees and it actually rained for a reasonable length of time for once in a few months.
It's all about making the most of the Summer daylight hours, but theoretically the same could be achieved by waking up earlier in the morning. Although in a slightly related piece of information, humans are prone to staying up later. Interesting.
But bad hibernation habits aside, this week will be the last week before the semester break. The pre-vets have been put through the what-should-be-called tradition of mid-semester test torture, although props to the uni for getting the results out quickly. Hear that NZQA? You can do better than Mid-January!
This week and the previous one also got rather experimental in the way of finding things to eat from my 'pantry', rather shelves and a fridge. After running out of peanut butter I found that chili sauce spreads rather well and tastes rather nice between bread, and then in the absence of corn chips, just crunching on a plain packet of instant noodles proved quite satisfying.
And my goodness wouldn't winning $34 Million+ overnight be great? For me the experience ended prematurely when I realised I never bought a ticket. But on inspection, the numbers I usually pick wouldn't have done me much justice. So it was $5 saved, possibly used to buy that 6-pack of Schweppes Sparkling Lemon I now have in the fridge. Hey don't judge me, I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than alcohol! For pete's sake I'm an RA in a non-alcoholic hall... can you see all the implications of storing cans of beer in my room?! Sorry, where was I?
Easter! Ah yes, the Diabetic's least favourite holiday (sorry, Jennie) is screaming back around turn 4 ready for another lap. That was a bit of a weak metaphor... we'll move on.
I've already seen shops push their chocolate out the door... those trademark Lindt Bunnies making another headline appearance at the end of multiple aisles in my local supermarket. Ooh! And before I forget...
My Thoughts On... Supermarket Traffic
What is it with the shopping trolley traffic on some days?! I went on my weekly shop on Sunday and it just... felt so awkward at times trying to maneuover around people without being too offensive. It was bad enough that there were ladders we had to dodge on the way around, but to be honest supermarket trolleys might just need their own road code.
Nowadays we have some shoppers seizing a moment of opportunity and just quickly leaving their cart in the middle of the aisle while they just reach over and grab something on the opposite side. Umm, yeah... can you see where this is headed?
And is it me or do you sometimes go down one section thinking you're travelling the wrong way down a one way street? Weaving from left to right, dodging other patrons as they admire the shelf contents. And you only needed to get to the other side.
Our road code says we need to drive on the left. Why don't we do that in the supermarket too?
Here's my suggestion for the aisles: Have enough space for four shopping carts next to each other; two lanes for one direction of traffic, two for the other direction. Of these two lanes, the one closest to the middle is the lane for people that aren't stopping, i.e. walking past. The lanes closest to the sides are the parking spaces, where customers can pick up an item on their side, or, if it is safe to cross, leave their trolley but only to pick up an item from the opposite side of aisle. Everyone keeps left, and, presuming no-one stops in the middle lane, you have a lane for people to pull over for others to pass. Simple. Maybe.
For those that weren't paying attention: You pull into the middle lane on the left hand side and continue walking down the aisle until you find something you like and pull over into an empty spot, pick up the item, then merge back into the middle lane. Next step into implement intersections or something.
Then again, having fully automated supermarkets would make this redundant. So whatever comes first.
The Last Word
This week we prove to people how movies can be condensed beyond recognition. Presenting Movie-A-Minute, extremely quick summaries of movies. No seriously, extremely quick. Like, you'll-get-through-it-in-less-than-30-seconds quick.
Comedy now has no physical boundaries - we have a male and female in a typical house scene. The catch? The set is titled so now the guy (Shaun Micallef) looks like he's drunk.
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