International Day at Tesco

International Day at Tesco

            Had to run over to Tesco this afternoon for a few items.  We were unaware that Tesco was having a half price day sale.  The traffic should have definitely been a clue when it took us twice as long as usual to reach the parking lot but we persevered and went on into the lot and found a place to park.

            I like to go shopping with my husband and he doesn’t mind it and usually enjoys himself as well.  When my daughter is in town, we will also sometimes make it a family outing and all of us will spend some time browsing up and down the aisles.  It’s always fun in another country as there is always something new to find.  We may not want to buy it but finding it and seeing what it is or does is just as much fun.  With this said, it still sometimes surprises me to see whole families going through the aisles doing the shopping together.  My maximum family size is three.  I am talking now of families that have 3 or 4 children and they have decided to bring along the grandparents as well.  So there is a family of between 5 and 8 people wandering up and down the aisles together, pretty much blocking any access to anything until they choose to move on to another product. 

            Today was much the same but even more crowded than usual because of the half-price sale.  I thought Tesco was crowded at Christmas!  It was almost as bad.  Today I also noticed all the different nationalities that are making Tesco their home base of shopping. I know the area around here has a large population of immigrants turned citizens and also a large population of ex-pats here for whatever reason such as we are living here.  Today, a large population of the “foreigners” in the area all descended on Tesco in their family groups for the half-price sale. 

            First I noticed the Nepalese families.  I have spent several vacations in Nepal so am fairly confident that I can identify Nepalese and faintly recognize the language.  The Nepalese families there today were just the nuclear families but 2 or 3 children per family and really taking advantage of the sale with one or two carts full to the brim of goodies.  I also noticed the Indian families.  A few of them had brought along the grandparents where the woman was usually dressed in a sari while her more Anglicized children and grandchildren would be dressed in the equivalent clothes per age group of what English families wear.  I think I noticed some Thai families but not really sure if they were Thai or another Southeast Asian family.  Some Eastern European families were also stocking up but not sure from where but I did hear at least two different languages from that side of the continent.

            Finally there was one lone Chinese woman doing the shopping on her own.  She was a lovely person to see because she had dressed up for the occasion.  She was in a long red velvet dress which skimmed the tops of her shoes.  Her coat was a deep burgundy velvet type material.  Totally made up face and fine jewelry and a magnificent fur hat which covered her ears topped the ensemble.  Her cart was almost overflowing as she pushed it to the checkout line. 

            I really had been grimacing when we pulled into the parking lot because I am not very fond of crowds nor do I like to push my way through the aisles while people hem and haw over what to buy.  But I’m very glad I went today.  It was delightful to see so many different people and cultures all intent on their shopping, all at the same place, and all living the same kind of life on a Sunday afternoon.