Xmas 2010. Forest Place, Perth. Panasonic LX5  © P.J. Croft 2013

I went to Joondalup shopping centre yesterday, a 15Km drive. In early afternoon, the parking wasn’t as bad as I expected and I snagged a slot as soon as a car moved out.

Woolworths!! I bought a box of four glasses, got them home, only to find one glass was missing.  Grrr.

Then in the supermarket, I bought two rock melon halves marked down to $1 each. Only today did I go through the till docket to find I’d been charged twice that, $2 each. Grrrr!

I am fed up with Woolworths. I don’t think there’s a single time I can remember when I haven’t found an example of mispricing, and it’s always in their favour. I have a fantastic memory and I look hard at each price before deciding, then go through the till docket when I leave, if I remember, or later at home. Always, always, I find at least one error in their favour, usually in short dated items or specials which still scan at the old price or similar.

I’m sure they rely on us not checking our dockets, or not remembering the prices, or being too tired to go back. A nice way to boost profits, ain’t it? A bit here, a bit there.

Not me. Tomorrow I have to go that way and I’m going to be banging on the counter (not literally) pointing out these errors and how annoyed I am that I have to come back every time. This has been going on for years. It’s only Woolworths and BigW. Rarely if ever do I find an error with Coles.

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It goes on and on. I bought a new glucometer (blood sugar meter) on Saturday, and a box of test strips to go with it. I’ve been using these for 20 years – I know what to do: take the calibration chip out of the box of test strips and plug it into the slot in the meter.

Uh, where’s the chip? I searched high and low in the box, in the meter packaging, in the folded instruction leaflet inside. No chip.

I went back to the chemist. They didn’t know. They thought maybe you don’t need a calibration chip with these newer meters. Try it without it.

Nope – it won’t work. Today I phoned Roche, the makers. What’s going on?  Oh, we’re changing over to a permanently calibrated meter which doesn’t need the chip. You seem to have got an old meter mixed up in the changeover. We’ll post one out to you.  Gee, thanks. Bloody hell!

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Yesterday at Joondalup I had to push my trolley a fair way around the outside, over quite a few curbs. As I negotiated one, a young lady (late teens?) came past at a fast clip and I saw her look briefly at my trolley and me before moving on. I realised that she was watching me, ready to lend a hand if I couldn’t manage the curb.

I didn’t say anything initially, but about a minute later I called out and said, “You were going to lend me a hand, weren’t you. Thank you, thank you very much.” She smiled and looked pleased before moving on.  There are some good ones.

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I saw a podiatrist last week for toenails and a possible ingrown one (not badly, easily fixed). I said I get pain in my left foot every time I walk due to a fallen arch.

He produced a small rubber pad, cut it to shape and stuck it in my sandal. Bingo. Instant fix. That’s all it took. Wish all fixes were that simple.

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One good thing about Woolies yesterday was that they were selling a Caffitaly capsule coffee maker on special at $49. I’ve looked at the Nespresso line but the astronomical prices for their machines and the fact that you can’t buy the capsules except via the web made me laugh at it.

But this machine was priced at a level where I’m prepared to give it a go. The capsules were $5.99 for a pack of 16. I’ve used it once today and it’s not bad at all. As I say, it’s not a big outlay to try it. It’s a solid machine, well made.