A normal trip to the grocery store will at some point make me want to beat someone, just like in America.
Approaching noon on Sunday, I decided to make my first foray to the big grocery store between where I am now, Ponsonby, and the CBD. I planned to walk there, as it is all downhill, then take the bus back up. However, it began to drizzle, so I decided to take the bus both ways. There is a stop with a nice shelter right outside the guest house. Next to the shelter is a row of cafes and eateries of various sorts, with parallel parking on the curb. No parking in front of the shelter, of course, as that is where a bus stops every 10 minutes, or 15 on the weekends.
However, since it was drizzling heavily, a gentleman (as I will refer to him at this point) in a Lexus SUV decided to wait in the bus lane for the parking spot just next to it, as it appeared that those using this spot (also in an SUV) were about to load up and leave. However, it became quickly evident that they were
not leaving, just continually getting things from the car. They were sitting in the covered sidewalk area of the cafe adjacent to the spot, with small children. Lexus-SUV-dude decides to hang in there anyway. An optimist, I suppose. The bus is approaching. I'm eager to see what is going to happen. I'm assuming that the bus driver will lay on the horn, and the Lexus SUV will leave, chagrinned.
Not so.
The bus begins to pull into its spot, then pauses, as it cannot get out of traffic all the way because of the Lexus. I lock eyes with the bus driver and begin to step out from the shelter. The driver shrugs his shoulders and pulls back out, carrying on. I was dumbfounded. Then I was pissed. I had just waited 10 minutes for the bus, and would now have to wait 15 more. Lexus is still there, hazards flashing. Yes, I knocked on his window. He rolled it down.
"You know, you just made me miss my bus because you're sitting in the bus lane."
"Oh, so sorry."
I didn't press it. He was older and seemed genuinely nonplussed about what had just occurred. Yet he persisted in waiting for the parking spot. Yes, for another 15 minutes, until the next bus came by, without stopping. By this time it had stopped drizzling, so I just started walking, as Lexus guy finally gave up and drove on.
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The New World grocery store was very much like any American supermarket. The only real difference were the accents flying about and the actual brand names on the packets (though some were the same). It was even full of people oblivious to how their positioning in the aisles might be obstructing traffic, unattended children pulling items from shelves while parents looked elsewhere, and those people who should never be let anywhere near a self-check-out lane. All the same.
Still, I made it without throttling anyone. In a future post I'm going to do a breakdown of what different things cost in New Zealand, using many of the items from this shopping trip...
