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International Day at Tesco

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

International Day at Tesco

Had to run over to Tesco this afternoon for a few items. We were unaware that Tesco was having a half price day sale. The traffic should have definitely been a clue when it took us twice as long as usual to reach the parking lot but we persevered and went on into the lot and found a place to park.

I like to go shopping with my husband and he doesn’t mind it and usually enjoys himself as well. When my daughter is in town, we will also sometimes make it a family outing and all of us will spend some time browsing up and down the aisles. It’s always fun in another country as there is always something new to find. We may not want to buy it but finding it and seeing what it is or does is just as much fun. With this said, it still sometimes surprises me to see whole families going through the aisles doing the shopping together. My maximum family size is three. I am talking now of families that have 3 or 4 children and they have decided to bring along the grandparents as well. So there is a family of between 5 and 8 people wandering up and down the aisles together, pretty much blocking any access to anything until they choose to move on to another product.

Today was much the same but even more crowded than usual because of the half-price sale. I thought Tesco was crowded at Christmas! It was almost as bad. Today I also noticed all the different nationalities that are making Tesco their home base of shopping. I know the area around here has a large population of immigrants turned citizens and also a large population of ex-pats here for whatever reason such as we are living here. Today, a large population of the “foreigners” in the area all descended on Tesco in their family groups for the half-price sale.

First I noticed the Nepalese families. I have spent several vacations in Nepal so am fairly confident that I can identify Nepalese and faintly recognize the language. The Nepalese families there today were just the nuclear families but 2 or 3 children per family and really taking advantage of the sale with one or two carts full to the brim of goodies. I also noticed the Indian families. A few of them had brought along the grandparents where the woman was usually dressed in a sari while her more Anglicized children and grandchildren would be dressed in the equivalent clothes per age group of what English families wear. I think I noticed some Thai families but not really sure if they were Thai or another Southeast Asian family. Some Eastern European families were also stocking up but not sure from where but I did hear at least two different languages from that side of the continent.

Finally there was one lone Chinese woman doing the shopping on her own. She was a lovely person to see because she had dressed up for the occasion. She was in a long red velvet dress which skimmed the tops of her shoes. Her coat was a deep burgundy velvet type material. Totally made up face and fine jewelry and a magnificent fur hat which covered her ears topped the ensemble. Her cart was almost overflowing as she pushed it to the checkout line.

I really had been grimacing when we pulled into the parking lot because I am not very fond of crowds nor do I like to push my way through the aisles while people hem and haw over what to buy. But I’m very glad I went today. It was delightful to see so many different people and cultures all intent on their shopping, all at the same place, and all living the same kind of life on a Sunday afternoon.

Definitely Rocked

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

We Will Rock You

This was our first trip into London for a theater show. We really had no clue what We Will Rock You was about other than it had music from Queen, which we love. Somehow we thought it was more of a concert but turns out it was a musical play.

Thirty minutes into the play, we had to evacuate the theater which happened in a rather orderly fashion and no one stampeded out or knocked other people down. Killer Queen was singing a song when two people dressed in black just walked onto the stage, tapped her from behind and helped her down off her perch. I thought it was something that wasn’t supposed to be happening and I was right. As she stops singing, mid song, and climbs down, she says, “We’ll be back.” Then the curtains come down including a big curtain on the front that says “Safety Curtain” which I have never seen in a theater before. People in the audience sat a minute and sort of waiting for an announcement. Then people on the left hand side of the theater sort of all got up en-mass and started for the exits so all of us on the right side did too. We got into the aisle and still just sort of stood there when some theater employees came to the fire exits and started yelling, “Everyone out of the theater now! This way! Out of the theater now!” Everyone did start moving quickly now but still orderly and no panic. There is no smoke or anything happening that we can see.

Standing outside in an alley, we just were waiting to see what was going to happen and if we should head for the subway and go home or give it some more time. We heard sirens and saw an ambulance come racing towards the theater and then a fire truck. We started moving towards the front of the theater so we could see what was happened. It was very crowded so by the time we got to the front, the emergency personnel had either gone elsewhere or never stopped there anyway. Another 10 minutes and people started going back into the theater. We went back to our seats and were told another 15 minutes and the play would begin again.

So the night grew a bit longer than expected as we were allowed back into the theater later and the play continued on from the interruption point. An explanation later was that a disgruntled employee had pulled the fire alarm. We were also told that the disgruntled employee was known and would be dealt with in an appropriate manner. All that aside, the play was a delightful little future scenario where music is gone and one dreamer must find Freddy Mercury’s guitar where he hid it. I was a bit unprepared to hear women sing some of Freddy’s songs but it was good and their voices were superb. It was definitely a British tongue in cheek and the audience loved it when one line was something like “the old dominion theater held these shows for 150 years and only had to evacuate the theater once!” Our favorite part though was still the end though when they just sang Queen’s songs without any added dialog. It was an enjoyable evening.

$1000 Weekends

Thursday, February 16th, 2012
$1000 Weekends We love being ex-pats. We have tried to take advantage of the culture and the location and the vicinity of surrounding countries/opportunities whenever possible in all the places we have lived overseas. When we started living overseas ... [Continue reading this entry]

What’s Up with Clotted Cream?

Thursday, February 16th, 2012
What’s up with the clotted cream? My daughter sent us a lovely English Tea Hamper for Valentine’s Day. It came with a couple of nice scones, three different conserves, a jar of clotted cream, a fruit cake, and tea (or ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Move and the Beginning

Sunday, September 18th, 2011
We have been ex-pats off and on for the last 17, almost 18 years. I love the life but I hate the intervals in between when we are stuck, usually in Houston, for some unknown period of time. ... [Continue reading this entry]