Woolies has done it again. See the pineapple above clearly marked $2.50, but I was charged the original price, $5 (right).

Woolies is not doing too well in profits. What better way to boost the bottom line than by deliberately overcharging. Nine out of ten customers won’t check their bills and won’t complain. Those that do find the errors are no problem – we’re just given the price difference and sent on our way, even though we might be fuming. I can’t go crook at the poor girl behind the counter and the manager is probably out on a long lunch. We never see managers. Presto, increased profits. Check your till receipts if you shop at Woolies! You are almost certainly being ripped off. Coles – no problem, never an error. If Coles can do it, why can’t Woolworths?

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Ah, memories.

I used to be in the habit of keeping a diary, as you can see above. The green one on top is 1995-96 and the one below it is 2012, although the edge is not marked. Sometimes I missed a year but most of the intervening years are there.

It was a cursory record because I didn’t write it up every single day, and even when I did write, I wasn’t recording my innermost thoughts. I just recorded the major things I wanted to remember, especially when I sent letters or made some official action. I kept track of the magazines I bought and their cost, just to have an idea of how much I was spending, because I’ve always been a magazine addict. I spent a lot of money, probably $70-$80 per month or more. I used to buy New Scientist every week at $8 each. That’s $32 per month for that one alone. And Amateur Photographer weekly at $6.50 I think. Ouch.

Anyway, they came with me to this house but I never look at them, so in the interests of reducing clutter, I’m thinking of throwing them into the recycle bin. But I can’t! How can I discard all these memories? So I think I’ll try to scan them, just the important pages, the ones I want to remember. Then I can make a multi page PDF for each year. Why? Who’s going to be interested? I keep thinking someone in the far future, because I’ve got records of everything. I keep a notebook with every cent I spend each day. That must be interesting to someone in 50 or 100 years’ time.

I’ve resurrected my old 2009 computer, a Core i7 with 6GB DDR2 RAM, and installed the OCZ solid state hard drive that I got replaced under warranty. This computer is no slouch, even though it’s six years old now. I’ve got four hard drives of 750GB size or thereabouts, so it’s a powerhouse. Ideal for scanning work. That makes two good desktop computers, both Core i7s, and the Sony VAIO laptop, a Core 2 Duo with 8GB RAM and a BluRay burner. All three have legal copies of Windows 7 Professional 64bit, which will be upgraded free of charge to the new Windows 10 starting on 29 July, nine days away. Zowee. This’ll keep me busy for the foreseeable future.

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Speaking of foreseeable futures, a young woman came to my door this morning, very, very chatty, but trying to sell me roller shutters for my windows (there’s that word again!) She was obviously trained to engage the potential customer in chat, and we talked about our ages. She guessed my age at late 40s, bless her little cotton knickers. She was 22. I was tempted to invite her in to see my images but … that would have obliged me to get window shutters. I told her she has no chance of selling them to me. I hate the look of them and I would hate to be in a darkened, shuttered house. No way. Perhaps for security, but it would be bloody expensive security. I’ve already got window locks and a house alarm.

She was nice, though. English, Midlands accent, 22. The mind wanders …