BLOG: One Thing's For Sure For This Mum — I Cannot Wait To Do Some Clean Shopping

(Jo Harper is making the move from San Francisco to Pleasanton, and plans to blog about her adventures getting to know the new community.)

So how many hand sanitizer wipes does it take to get a shopping trolly clean in Pleasanton?   

Do you require your own bag to eliminate the left-over sandwich wrapper from the last user? I am hoping that the child safety belts are long enough and have opposing ends that create the intended locking device on these things and also that they are long enough to fit my child’s ever increasing waist line. 

When placing a screaming child into a cart, in the rain, how many homeless people ask you for cash then swear and spit in one’s personal space? As you’re avoiding any contact with said homeless person, do you bang onto a clip board-wielding survey taker hamming on about needing cash for one thing or another?  Once this obstacle course has been negotiated are there young cute kids selling candy for extortionate amounts so that they can go to basketball camp for the summer?

Only asking.

I cannot wait to use a shopping cart with a cool go-faster racing car stuck to the front of it – this will make sure my lass doesn’t shout “More” and point to every single thing in the store while looking at me with her ‘Oliver’ eyes. 

It will also stop her from grabbing things at a height which would cause serious injury, and it may even allow me the time to buy things off the list.

I have already seen a store in Pleasanton which has clean baby friendly changing facilities that doesn’t require gingerly cutting through the warehouse catching meat packers smoking in their chef whites. 

Yes the loos are at the front, so there is nothing to distract baby. Plenty for mama’s beady eyes though, like coffee (to name my second favorite indulgence - to tea that is).

I bet Girl Scout cookies are available after dark in Pleasanton, and I can guess they skip home holding hands eager to count their takings without the fear of being robbed or worse. I love Thin Mints.

Parking is probably a breeze too. How many times have you nearly crashed into a makeshift ‘cart city’ which is taking up two of the closest-to-the-front-door spaces in the carpark?  Then got yelled at for waking someone up?  I can safely say that supermarket shopping in San Francisco is my least favorite stay-at-home mama thing to do and it seems to quash my appetite on every occasion. 

On the same note, I am a proud shopping bag re-user and pride myself on taking my non-plastic tote bags to the supermarket. 

In fact plastic is banned in S.F. unless you visit China Town or the Mission; seems that the pink bags with a rose and ‘have a nice day’ embellished on them escaped the plastic bag police radar. 

I am not sure what the deal is in Pleasanton – Are they banned? You know they should be. I will probably have to get over the embarrassment of producing my old tatty bags with many a stain just because we are moving down the road.  I really do hope people reuse stuff in Pleasanton. Mind you I am chomping at the bit to forage through the summer yard sales.

GLOSSARY

shopping trolly = shopping cart

carpark = parking lot

supermarket = grocery store