Today at Tesco I was walking towards a woman carrying bottles of wine between her arms, close to the chest. A few steps between us, one bottle slipped over her arm. I remember this in slow motion… I look at the bottle falling, then her face, she cringes. Then I go back to the bottle and it bounces once, then hits the linoleum again and shatters in a surprisingly small footprint. While I am observing this, I take a couple steps back so nothing hits me. We both look at each other, and the people around us, turn, and vanish into an aisle.
I went and got my own bottle of wine, and then at the till the oddest thing happened. I got carded.
Till (old) man: Can’t let you buy the wine without ID*.
Me: Wow. I’m 33.
Lady (packing) in front of me: You should take it as a compliment.
Me (to till man): Thanks. But I don’t carry ID**. I’m 33, really.
Till man: OK, you’ve got white hair, so I’ll let you have it <wink>.
Me (to myself): Now you’ve ruined it.
* Legal drinking/purchase of alcohol in the UK is 18!
** This will change soon. As a foreigner in this country I’m being used as a test subject for their new and pointless ID card effort. That’s another story, though, so I’ll leave it for now.
No tags
1 comment
Leave a Reply
<< year four
Nick · December 31, 2008 at 21:03
I once dropped a bottle of wine in a supermarket – it’s very embarrassing!
I’d already paid, too – but they gave me a replacement free of charge.
Have a great New Year!