web developer

The Supermarket Shuffle – Moving it from ‘A’ to god knows where

I’m not stupid (subjective I know!), I understand why supermarkets re-arrange the entire store, it’s so that we’re forced to walk up/down, left/right to find what we’re looking for, it forces us to be subjected to all sorts of new marketing, promotions, products that we wouldn’t normally in robot shopping mode, but it pisses me off! How can any marketing method that involves annoying the clients be a good thing!
Suspect this comes into the ‘Everyone else does it’ so it’s ok category, well stop being a sheep and be different, different is good, make a point of being different. Today’s vitriol is aimed at Morrisons, but don’t think the rest of you get off scot free, all I wanted was to dash in, grab some paracetamol, and be gone. They managed to introduce the self scan tills to improve and accelerate my shopping experience, and then took it all away by making me wander lost, resorting to navigating by signs above the aisles that have no reference to what’s in them.

Initially this was worthy of a mention under ‘Change is Bad’, but i was tired and had 20 minutes in the car to self rant so you get a page all to yourself 🙂

Rant over

Out of My Way! (Swimming)

Excuses first, am not ageist, and I have no more right to be anywhere or do anything than anyone else, but…

… I swim, most who see me would argue I should swim more, and I was trying.  Time is precious in this overly hectic world we live in and I choose to go to a Gym because it has a decent 25metre pool, for swimming, I can jump in, do my time lengths in the hope of little interruption and get on.  Sometimes it’s busy, sometimes am in the lanes and you have to share with others (There are direction boards and in the main reasonable lane discipline), sometimes you get stuck with someone at a completely different pace to you, but ok that’s the exception, but I’ve always got my swim done.

Today I didn’t, it was busy, 7.30 in the morning and at that time the average age of the patrons is pensionable, as it happened the one half of the pool that’s laned was full (2+ in each of the lanes) so I went to squeeze in the other half, there were 5 people in there.  I went for the biggest gap, not a lot, but my expectations were that people would scooch up a little either way and let me in.  I don’t want to interfere with their swimming session, but I do want mine too.  Nope, in particular on one side he was plodding up and down , I swear being deliberately stubbon, but most definately not showing any consideration to me or others, didn’t budge an inch.  I managed about 10 lengths, moving up behind people, moving diagonally across as people passed in the opposite direction, accelerating past, and then repeating in reverse (Am not a fast swimmer but on average much faster at my stready pace than the regulars at that time of day).  The lady to my right was to her credit trying to give me some space, but was met with someone equally as stubborn as the gent to my left, outside of her who was barely moving and using as much width as she was tall, I think she was scared to get too close to the rope 🙁

So I got out, I was doing as much distance width ways as in lengths, and it was just not working, so instead of working out any stress I ended up with more, good start.  Consideration for others is all I ask, I’ve paid my membership as much as them (actually I’ve paid twice as much as that particular set of patrons – but that’s probably ageism), and have as much right to a swim (but no more).  Yes, they were in there first, and yes modern lifestyle is too busy that I didn’t have the luxury of time to wait, but there was plenty of room if I’d been met with the rare quality of consideration for others around us, instead I swear I got blank arrogant stubborness – Rant Over.