When you least expect it

Ages ago, my blogging mate Peter romandespatches  sent me these photos.

He had been meandering through a cemetery in England, when his eye was caught by a flash of white on the grass. 

Luckily he stopped for  a closer look, and found this:

It’s a bit hard to decipher what was on this shopping list, and we are left to ponder how it came to be lost/discarded in a cemetery.

Here are my best guesses:

• milk
• double cream 75 ml
• 1/2 fat (?) fresh 75 ml
• no idea
• some medication 50 mg
• flat leaf parsley
• chicken

Thank you for thinking of us, Peter.

Shopping list: Man dies

Thanks are due to a Facebook friend for this little beauty.

I know that Aussie folks will get it immediately, but what about the rest of you? Was the poor fellow killed by the mushrooms?

 

From the melting pot of North America!

The denizens of north-west North America now have some appreciation of what we in Australia go through in our summers. Record highs were recently reached, with Lytton, a village in British Columbia taking the prize with 46.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday. That’s 116 degrees Fahrenheit, for those of you who need to know the conversion.

Apparently, having air-conditioners that cool as well as heat are the exception in domestic settings in Canada, so this must have been a big shock for most people, when they might expect an average temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius at this time of year.

So, one of the things people do at such times is head to some place that has air-conditioning that cools, such as a Costco. That is where my anonymous contributor found this shopping list, while they were “wandering around in air conditioned bliss”.

Who knew you could buy “Sleep”? There’s no excuse for insomnia in some parts of the world, it seems.

Can some of you North Americans educate the rest of us about some of the other items, the ones at the bottom of the list, for example?

PS Today, our mercury climbed to 11 degrees, Celsius, with a dribbling sky to complete the grey picture. I’ll take that over 46.6 any day.

 

Oh Carol (*)

Another one of the eagle-eyed mob sent a shopping list. Thank you Carol! She found it at Coles Northpoint, in Toowoomba, which is a lovely city in Queensland. 

Carol blogs using the pseudonym of the eternal traveller. Her posts make me quite green with envy! https://theeternaltraveller.wordpress.com/

Herewith the list. I have a feeling that a stir-fry might be on the menu. Hopefully, not with that darn lamb. Can you even do a stir-fry with lamb??

I must look for lemongrass paste (one of the items scribbled through) next time I’m in my Coles shop.

(*) Just for you, Carol

https://youtu.be/JDMu0YTR1ik

 

Shopping in the Shaky Isle (New Zealand)

A blogging friend, who has a very fertile imagination and many talents, sent us this shopping list. Thank you Bruce Almighty.

Bruce wrote: “Yvonne – here is a shopping list that I picked up from a shopping cart this morning in Stratford, New Zealand. It is written on both sides: red and blue/black. Use or not as you wish. Presumably (without being sexist) one side is the husband and one side is the wife??” (Bruce later retracted this statement, having decided the writing was from one person.)

“The red writing says “90% in Eltham”. Eltham is a town just south of Stratford. I presume your readers wouldn’t have a clue about that!” (*) He probably presumes correctly.

The New Zealand government is offering a subsidy on ceiling and underfloor insulation and also efficient heaters to low income home owners, which explains the planned purchases written in red ink.

The other side of the paper is a pretty normal top-up list for many of us. (Except no vegemite in this household, please.)

(*) Read all about the beautiful area where Bruce lives, here: https://www.newzealand.com/au/stratford/

The next knock he hears on his door might be a visitor or two from Australia!

Yahoo, another shopping list

I had just about given up on blogging, when a friend who lives in Venice sent me this wonderful contribution. Thank you, James Jr.

He found it in the Eurospesa supermercato  on the mainland, which probably means in Mestre, the city that you go through when you leave from, or arrive at Venice by train, bus or auto. 

Just a tiny Italian lesson before I proceed: the ‘spesa’ part of the name of the supermarket refers to shopping. The phrase ‘fare la spesa’ means to do the shopping.

I can take a punt at deciphering some of these, but will depend on James (and others) to help with the rest.

I will list those I am fairly confident of, and see how many of them you can translate. Then, we’ll wait for the help with the rest. Is that a deal?

arancia

fette

pasta pasticcio (I think I know what this is)

verdure

vino (for you, Susie)

prosciutto

scatolet.. soffitio  ?? (this one needs plenty of help)

aceto

Vorrechine  (no idea, sounds kind of medicinal)

acofi ..  (more of no idea!) Maybe these last two are one item?

An Italian lesson

My friends from Venice forwarded these shopping list written in that beautiful language: Italian. 

It will be your job to tell me what was on the lists. Don’t complain, it’s good for you to exercise your brains.

fragole

yogourt (this may be misspelt/misspelled – I am catering to both versions of the English language)

succo d’ananas

carta igienica

Rasoi (I have to confess I don’t know this one. I think it may be a brand name.)

una sorella più educata

I’ll bet you had no trouble with the first item

Something of interest about that second word, biscotti. Bis means twice or extra, the  word literally means twice cooked. You may also see it used in the Italian word for Great-grandmother: Bisnonna.

Thank you, Caroline and Phil, for sending them to me. 

In which Cookie holds up the traffic

This shopping list with a couple of puzzlers has been gifted to us by Julie  whose surname has led to her being known by the nickname “Cookie”.

She included these comments about her search and find mission:

Hi Yvonne, here is my latest find.

I was at our local Lowes…a large home improvement chain.

I saw the list in the middle of the parking lot and stopped, bending over to take the picture

while my husband waited in the truck wondering what in the heck I was doing.

The cars wanting to drive through also wondered as they had to wait on me to

take a picture of “something” on the pavement.

I love the child drawing of the cat and dog just as I love the top item

on the list….alcohol–perhaps the turned corner covers Schnapps.

And what is a fried green bean??

I found out for you, Julie (see below). I was more puzzled by the repetition of green beans. Maybe they needed plenty, to make another dish aside from the fried offering.

And, what are pepper kites??

I am pleased to report that I found several recipes for green bean fries. I don’t think I’ll bother making them! https://www.platingsandpairings.com/green-bean-fries/

Thank you for stopping to capture this list for us, Julie. 

 

I felt like I had hit the jackpot!

I spotted this list on the floor of the newly renovated Coles supermarket in Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia. I didn’t hesitate a second to swoop on it.

The item “Listerine Tabs” intrigued me, I didn’t know Listerine came in tablets. When looking online to find out more about this, I found a report on a student’s project, to design travel packs of the tablets. I’d sure buy them!

http://www.packagingoftheworld.com/2016/04/listerine-mouthwash-tablets-student.html

Listerine Mouthwash Tablets (Student Project) on Packaging … http://www.packagingoftheworld.com Packaging of the World is a package design inspiration archive showcasing the best, most interesting and creative work worldwide.

 

I have no idea what Tomato-Corri could be, unless it’s 2 separate items, the second being Coriander.

Then, I noticed that the list was written on the back of a receipt from the only other supermarket in town, Foodworks. This shopper seems to be a good recycler! The second photo shows what he/she bought at Foodworks, 4 days earlier.