Guilty little PLEASURE
Buying fancy food puts Colin in his happy place – and the world needs a good dollop of joy right now
To our ongoing surprise, we now live in an older, rather well-off part of town and, naturally enough, it’s full of posh shops. One of them is a food place, a small supermarket really, filled with all sorts of expensive temptations. I don’t go there often, but when I do, I’ve been known to lose all control of my usually sensible self.
Well, not that sensible. Just sensible enough to handle our regular food shopping without collapsing the bank. But I am weak in the presence of tempting retail options, so I generally try to stay away from those sorts of shops. But, just the other day, in search of a can of anchovies for a meal I was making, I ventured into that posh food place just over the hill, that palace of plenty and, my goodness, I lost it big-time.
I did find the anchovies eventually, but I was already popping little extras into my trolley. I tried not to look at the prices, but by the time I got to check out, I must have picked up 10 things I didn’t need. Deducting the anchovies, which I did need, I blew more than I meant to on fancy nonsense – over-priced lollies, various canned goods, salami with truffles in it (who knew?).
I gave the check-out operator a guilty look when my total came up, but she was probably used to people like me, buying things she’d never dream of buying. Buying things, actually, that I’d never normally dream of buying. Well, not until I was confronted with all that over-priced temptation. I probably need therapy. Or maybe an implant that gives me a jolt if I ever go near that shop again.
I think I was looking for something to make me happy, because I can’t help thinking that, at the end of this very long haul with Covid, we all need a little happiness, even if it’s just a bag of liquorice balls and some fancy salami. Like much of the rest of the world, we’ve had to redefine happiness a little, given that some of the things that used to make us happy weren’t available any more.
So it’s interesting to see that New Zealand has just been placed 10 in the list of the world’s happiest countries. We’re not only two ahead of Australia, but we are also, according to the survey, the happiest nation in the Southern Hemisphere, though, as mentioned, we don’t feel as happy as we used to.
The happiest countries are mostly the colder ones – Finland, Iceland, Norway, those sorts of places. The saddest country in the world was Afghanistan, though I imagine it might have been overtaken now by Ukraine, with Russia a close second.
My Uber driver the other night was Polish, a big, friendly, plainspoken guy. He said his wife was Ukrainian and I said I was sorry, hastily adding that I wasn’t sorry that his wife was Ukrainian, but sorry about what was happening to her country.
“It is alright, my friend,” he said. “I understand you meant well.” That was a relief. He had the look of a bloke I didn’t want to upset. He went on to give me a quick history lesson, as well as telling me where I could get good Polish vodka. Leaving me feeling lucky to live in a happy country.
In search of a can of anchovies, I ventured into that posh food place, that palace of plenty, and, my goodness, I lost it big-time