This was sent to me by Sue from England . Her son, Joss, found a very wet list in a trolley at Morrison’s, dried it, and took a photo.
Sue commented: Joss thinks it was written by an elderly man. I agree with the elderly but unsure whether a man or woman.
It’s a very straightforward list, and I can see the shopper sitting down in front of the TV, guide in hand, munching on crisps, with some cheese on the side. I wish there were other beverage choices aside from water and milk.
Hello World 
I think it was written by a man, it’s kind of the way mine writes before he goes shopping (the style, not the handwriiting/printing). Just a short word in place of a whole wealth of possibilities, like ‘VEG’.
Cracker Barrel is a cheese, originally produced by Kraft.
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Hi, Val, and thank you for your comment.
Oh, Cracker Barrel cheese. When I was a kid, we got it in the most beautiful little wooden boxes. Those days are long gone, eh?
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Mmm… don’t know – they have a website (though not Kraft anymore, I don’t think), so possibly not gone.
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My favorite is the singular “Orange.” Are they referencing the fruit or the color?
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And, if it is the colour, what were they going to buy in that colour?
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Question begats question.
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Now, that sounds all old scripture!
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I wonder if this is a person who shops for food every day. The list is quite basic, but it does have all the most important things, like snacks. 🙂
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The classic food pyramid, eh?
It doesn’t seem that this person has to cater for a house full of kiddies!
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Many people in Hong Kong go to the wet market for fresh fruit and veg each day and maybe meat and fish too. They are still popular here. Frozen food is not.
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Remarkably like my late mother’s writing. But she could spell tomato. And of course she’s been gone 20 years next month. I doubt if the supermarket trolley would still have her shopping list in now but you never know how often they get cleaned.
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My mom’s printing would have been like that also, Andrew.
Oh great, now I can obsess about the cleanliness, or otherwise, of the shopping baskets/trolleys! Thanks, Andrew.
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With a barrel of cheese, butter, crisps, cake and biscuits, and a TV guide, one can only conclude it’s not an older person because with that diet they’d be dead.
I like the consistently written letter E with its bottom horizontal line dislocated every time.
I’m not sure if an older person would write things in capital letters. Older people grew up with joining everything up in their handwriting?
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Bruce, it sounds much like my wildly unbalanced diet! Well, except, no TV guide.
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I haven’t had any crisps so far today but I’ve had a bit of everything else and it’s only 10 am.
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I seem to remember as a kid, many years ago, that tomato was spelled with an e. If I’m right. then this is from an older person.
I’
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It might have been a tiny subsection of your community who spelled it that way, Darlene.
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I’m afraid Google’s urban dictionary suggests that Gerard is being very rude indeed.
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Oh, that doesn’t sound like Gerard at all, sez I, with tongue in cheek. Now, shall have to find out what you found out, Derrick.
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🙂
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I wonder if Gerard knows what urban dictionary said? Do you want to tell him, or shall I? Or, shall we let well enough alone?
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Won’t he get an alert?
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Well…I guess he did buy something from each of The 5 Food Groups! 😉
Now I’m pondering what kind of cake he bought. ??? 😀 That does say “CAKE”, right?! (Maybe I should put on my reading-glasses before WordPressing! 😀 )
HUGS!!! 🙂
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Hmm, I shall have to look at the list again, more closely.
Yes, my lovely, it does say cake. He/she might have a wee sweet tooth. xxx ❤
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Joss and I were intrigued by the handwriting – capital letters and the misspelling of tomato implies poor literacy skills, not necessarily age related, but likely working class.
The TV guide could be a clue that this person may be elderly; a lonely person, a widower/widow, watching television is important and may be the only way to pass the time. Younger people would automatically read the program guide on the television itself.
Water is a puzzle – tap water in the UK is clean and drinkable, an older person wouldn’t normally waste money on buying bottled.
Writing VEG doesn’t tell us anything – I often choose my vegetables from what looks the best on the day.
I think older people say Tomato Sauce more often than they use the word Ketchup.
The list is basic with no luxuries which imply the person is probably on a tight budget.
Gerard’s comment – ”No greater culinary delight for an Englishman than to eat wet cabbage standing up in a draught!”
I have never heard the phrase before and I am English! Wet cabbage? Does that mean boiled, stir-fried, or dampened by mayonnaise in a coleslaw?
Thank you, Yvonne.
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Hey, politicians have been known to misspell words like tomato, and the plural of potato. Heaven help us!
In Australia, everyone says tomato sauce, and even after 53 years here, it still doesn’t sound right somehow.
Gerard may be happy that he lives here in Australia and won’t have angry Englishmen/women banging on his door. I am open to bribes, to reveal his address. 🙂
Keep looking for those lists, you and Joss are very good sources. Oh, that’s how some Aussies say “sauces”!!!
Have a lovely Christmas. Hugs to you.
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The older I get the more I need to check my own spelling!
I say Tomato sauce far more than I do ketchup, although I have been pulled on it by one of my kids. Apparently, Tomato sauce is the sauce you make to accompany pasta, Mmmm.. I call that a bolognese sauce!
Old habits die hard!
Thank you, Yvonne. A very Happy Christmas to you too. 🙂
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A very sober list. Perhaps a lonely bachelor in a West-Kensington bed-sit?
The list was a torn piece of scrap paper. Who knows? They say that there is no greater culinary delight for an Englishman than to eat wet cabbage standing up in a draught. I noticed the list only specified ‘veg’.
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Yes, a lonely old bachelor, hunched by his gas fire.
Let’s see if Derrick reads your comment about the wet cabbage. His Jackie sounds like such a good cook.
I often just put veg/frt on my list and hope there’ll be something exciting to take my fancy. There seldom is.
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The serial watcher is in! Binge watching and Tomatoe’ 🍅 Sauce go hand in hand.
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It took me a while, coming from Canada, to get used to using tomato sauce, not catsup/ketsup. And, I still say tomato like a Canadian.
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