This is a reference to the weather which started with drizzle and a low temperature before degenerating to rain (some solid) and a cold wind. Of course it was also the day Jan decided to go shopping in Aldi. We caught the Black 1 bus from Aldermaston to the Horncastle pub stop in Reading. During the week it’s a half hour service. But today the bus arrived an hour late! It’s always interesting shopping in Aldi because of the different (foreign) brands. Their chocolate is delicious! All we had was my small daypack so we had to restrict our purchases.
We then caught the bus back to Calcot as Jan wanted a few items from Sainsbury’s. Now she’s been watching and learning from the canny pensioners so instead of buying lunch from the Costa Coffee outlet on the ground floor she took me up to the Sainsbury’s cafe on the first floor. The only patrons were pensioners and looking at the prices it wasn’t hard to work out why! In the end we both chose a “Big Breakfast” for lunch having decided to eat a light dinner.
Jan doesn’t like sausage’s. I eventually had four. However she does like bacon and mushrooms so some trading took place.
It’s been interesting watch her shop. Some time ago she obtained a Nectar card which is a loyalty card accepted by many outlets including Sainsbury’s and Homebase. She also has it linked to her eBay account. She uses the points at Sainbury’s to get a discount on the shopping bill. Additionally, she gets small cashback and discount vouchers from Sainsbury’s. All of these go towards reducing her food shopping bill. However not much in life is free and I suspect Sainsbury’s use the data collected to monitor her shopping habits and target her for additional items. Jan tells me she hasn’t been tempted but the process may be so subtle she doesn’t realise it’s happening?
We arrived back at Waiouru, cold, wet and having been stung by the hailstones. The weather is very similar to New Zealand! I was quite pleasantly surprised to find the boat was still reasonably warm despite not having left any form of heating running in our absence. Hopefully this is further confirmation the insulation is doing it’s job.
Things brightened up in the afternoon with the rain stopping and then we even had a hint of blue sky. There was a knock on the side hatch and we opened it to find Graham (nb Mount Tamar) offering a plastic bag containing a midget chicken partridge. This is the second bird he has kindly given us and I can report they are quite tasty!
Jan now has to reconsider tomorrows dinner menu 
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