odd

I've come to terms with the fact that check out girls at grocery stores don't pack your groceries for you and that bag boys flat out don't exist in France. I'm a little O/C anyway, so I welcome the chance to pack my own groceries. I bring my big French basket and a large plastic reusable shopping bag with me and go to town, happily making sure that bread isn't squished at the bottom and separating the cold things from the pantry things to better facilitate the putting away of things when I get home.

But something has been bothering me about the way the French pack up their things in line. I see quite a few shoppers doing as I do with their reusable shopping bags (little plastic bags have pretty much gone the way of the dodo in these parts), but there are still those who simply stack their items back in their cart. Then, if you were to follow them out to the parking lot, you'd see them packing them in bags they've left in the trunk of their cars. This seems particularly odd during inclement weather.

This is a really small, nitpicky thing, but it always makes me tilt my head like a confused dog when I see it. A chacun son goût, as they say.*

Meanwhile, preparations are in high swing for our trip to SPAIN. I've spent the morning hunting down delicious goodies to bring to share with our fellow conference-goers, including bouchons de champagne and biscuits roses de Reims. Then it's packing and such for the rest of the day. And certainly no sleeping tonight. SPAIN!

*Literally "To each their own taste," or "To each their own".