British Shopping.

So they say that the British are all about queuing. That if you stick them in a neat little line they will stand there, obviously miffed about it, but enduring it. The queue is, after all, the English way.

Put them in a supermarket, or shopping mall, or anywhere else that people have to go to purchase things, it's mass pandemonium.

This is most obvious in the supermarket. Mostly because, unlike in the US where we have large and well spaced aisles, you are looking at a store the size of most US living rooms. Within that you have the aisle listings, often found in strange places, and often listing things you don't actually want. I have run across the 'Canned Fish' aisle, for instance. So what you do instead is roam the aisles, looking at each shelf for whatever they might have, and often doubling back because you later find out that the canned fish is right next to the rice, which last week was next to the bread but they aren't carrying that much bread, so they put chocolate there.

If we were to place English markets in the land of Buddhism, then we would be looking at change and change acceptance at it's highest level. Nothing is constant in the super market, and if you accept this, you are a far better shopper than most.

The other shopping experiences are what I would refer to as 'flocking.' You go into a mega store, ex. Primark - land of stupid cheap clothing, and you go to a rack. It could have the most horrific neon yellow belts with orange and puke stripped bags, but go there, and just look as if you are mildly interested. Within moments you are flocked to by shoppers, who obviously are drawn to your mild interest, who then push their way in front of you and grab and snatch at these items solely because they are there. Moments later, as you wander towards the exit, you will see those items deposited randomly on top of a pile of riffled through but decent shirts. It's the way of shopping in England.

Outside of, of course, the closet store.

The closet store comprises the majority of all independent shops in England. This, of course, is actually quite fun if you are in the mood for it. Usually you have to shove your way in and are greeted by 15 other people, who have been trapped there since who knows when, and a cashier at the till, who carries the greatest amount of space behind him or her. It's best to know what you are coming in for, because if you don't know then you will be there for days on end. This is because only the cashier knows where things are. They are the keeper of knowledge. So, unless you really just want to browse and find a full tea set under a stack of newspapers, go in with knowledge of your end game. And best of luck in getting back out. Oh, and by the way, mind the step, because all these shops have steps, either up or down or both ways, because that is the rule.

I suppose I wouldn't consider this a ranting, just sort of a catalogging of my shopping experiences so far whilst here. When you come from mega huge store land, like I do, it's an adjustment. I'm getting the hang of it. Now, if you don't mind me I need to go to TopShop. There are some things other people are looking at which I need to look at too, right now, and I hope there is stairs.