Not the major focus of the day, as it happens. I was even more poorly today, so pretty much confined to my room; not really enough material there to fill a blogpost. Made two forays into the world, one downstairs to the Bread Box for some dinner; the other to the supermarket, but a hop, skip and a jump away (not that I was doing any of those.)
Not really a supermarket in any accepted sense. Not even a corner store, which packs its shelves, crammed into a small space, with useful and/or vital items. Space is not at all the issue, for it has plenty – that is what makes it seem, at first glance/entry, a regular supermarket. There are plenty of aisles, plenty of room between. But there the similarity stops. Let’s take away about half, which are filled with what can only be described as tat Gaudily painted Hindu gods, heart-shaped photo frames in gold paint, the tackiest sort of toys. Then there is the electrical section: a wide selection of kettles, fans, and the like.
Out the back is another room, almost as big as the main store, with large quantities of various household goods – light bulbs, enormous packs of tissues, cutlery taking up a whole shelf, likewise metal plates, plastic bowls. Plus children’s stuff – small motor-bikes, garden chairs, huge packets of wooden cutlery, a whole shelf devoted to toilet rolls…
All of which means that the bit which sells stuff I might want is already severely restricted. But it’s not like old Russian or Chinese stores with little choice. One side of one aisle has different sorts of toothpaste; the opposite side is devoted to biscuits. Snacks takes up one side of an aisle, with stationery items opposite. Refrigerated items? One small fridge. Canned goods? A few tins of sliced pineapple, a few of tomato puree. Eggs are sold loose; you have to take great care getting them home.
Mostly I go for the milk (once I got past Aparna’s insistence that all milk in Nepal had to be boiled, until I noticed that the bags of milk they have in the small fridge said pasteurised.) Unfortunately, today, they didn’t have any. What else do I get? Corn flakes (once I found I could get milk). Beer, three cans at a time. Sugar (sold loose – the girl scoops some into a bag for you.) Snacks, biscuits (plenty of choice there.)
Handy that it’s so close, and the staff (especially one girl, who always looks after me) are plentiful and kind. But I do look forward to getting home, for some real shopping. Who would have thought I would long to return to Asda.
