Monday brings Meaning

Sorry about my innate need to alliterate in the headings! I have had a slight revelation while hanging out the washing, so wanted to record it here in case I forget it later. One of the unexpected changes that has occurred since my bike n bus riding experiment is that I am slowing down on some of my decision making processes. For some that might be a bad thing, but for me it's a good thing. Specifically, I have noticed that since I can't just jump in a vehicle and drive to the supermarket, I have changed the way I think about shopping. Twice now, I have made a list of what I "need" at the local shop or supermarket. On both occasions, I have reconsidered the list in the light of how much I can carry on a bike or bus and how urgent the items are in comparison with my writing workload. Looking at the list again, I see that none of the items are urgent and there is actually no need to go shopping at all. Interesting...

(written later...) This afternoon I ended up going to the supermarket anyway. I phoned my mum who is in a rest home and she needed some shopping done so I decided to do that before the kids came home from school. The question was bike or bus? I tossed between the two for a while and even nearly biked. However, I ended up bussing which turned out to be a good idea as I, like Baa Baa Black Sheep, had three bags full by the end of the experience. I bussed to the supermarket which is nearest to mum's place and then walked back across the bridge with my load. It was a hot day so the walk was pretty tiring but it's always great to arrive! I dropped off mum's shopping and had a short visit before walking back up to the Hamilton East shopping centre to wait for the bus home. Fortunately, I was well within my two hour return ticket price so I made the whole journey for $2.30 plus a decent amount of sweat - and arrived home with half an hour to spare before my daughter arrived to give an account of her day at school. I had the same bus driver each way, a nice man who I've seen on that route before. When I caught the bus used some spare cash to top up my electronic bus card. The minimum is $10 and I only had $9. But then I remembered the Australian $1 coin that I'd stashed in a secret pocket after my trip to see Oprah in Sydney. It had been saving itself for this moment, I thought, creating $10 where only $9 had been before. The bus driver spotted it immediately and asked if I had another $1. I didn't, so he happily accepted it, saying he would keep it with "all the other weird foreign money" he receives from hopeful passengers. I plan to stay home for the rest of the day and recover! By the way, thanks for the comment Vicki Malicki! Glad to know I've inspired you to bigger and better things!