Simple things .....

I have never been able to decide if I was blessed or cursed with my childlike ability to be entertained and amused by the simplest of things.

This evening, a simple shopping trip had me entertained from beginning to end.  

The shopping carts ( yes I am already starting to speak American English lol) in one of the grocery stores are kitted out to simulate a kiddies racing car, right down to the flames painted on the sides, so they can "drive" while mom is shopping. In this case, it was to keep Gogga and Luke occupied while mom was shopping :))

I decided to practice my "driving" on the right hand side of the road in the shopping aisles with Luke "steering" in the shopping cart. 

Needless to say I am as big a danger in a grocery store as what I would be if i even attempted to drive in the USA,  but we had tons of fun speeding up and down the aisles, with me shouting "  Turn the wheel, turn, turn....."  and Luke screaming with laughter and turning the steering wheel like a race car driver and then we would skid to a stop, with screeching brake sounds.  

Years from now I can see this happening in reverse, Luke pushing me around the corridors of the old age home in my wheel chair..... " Brrrrrrm,   brrrrrrrm,   brrrrrrm,  turn the wheel Gogga, turn, turn, turn ......"   

As we were making our way to the check out, a man who had been shopping with his son, stopped and asked us where we were from.  I love telling people that i am visiting from Cape Town and during our brief chat, he mentioned that his son had overheard Carla and I speaking earlier and had asked "Dad, why dont I talk like they do ?" 

Lol, yes I grew up in South Africa and yes, i talk funny !!!!

Then came the next highlight of the evening ...... my first self service check out.

Carla knows how difficult i find technology of any sort, so she says "Okay mom, I am going to show you how to do this, then you are going to do it yourself ......"  

I watched as she hooked a carrier bag over some hook thingies, pressed the payment selection on the screen, swiped her card and then swiped the barcode on the first grocery item over the scanner. Then it was my turn .... the more i swiped, the more excited i got.  I can only imagine how it looked to the other shoppers in the store - me jumping up and down with excitement, grinning like a Cheshire Cat as i am scanning groceries with Carla standing by taking pics.

Welcome to my world, people, where Food Lion Grocery Store can be just as much fun (if not more) than any regular tourist attraction.

 On the way home, Carla mentioned we had to stop to put in gas (another word i have picked up very easily).   

"I want to pump gas, I want to pump gas ....."   "Yes mom" Carla replies as patiently as she would with Luke "you can pump the gas"

So there we are at the gas station ( i dont think that there is such as thing as a petrol attendant in the USA) and Carla is once again patiently instructing me step by step how to pump gas.

It may be a small insignificant thing to some, but to me, I made yet another memory. Who would have thought that on the 1 October last year, i would be pumping gas in the USA a year later :)

 

Sight seeing in New York, riding a camel in Dubai, and back packing around Egypt (all items on my bucket list) will still come,  but for now I have experienced and enjoyed some new simple things, things that i have never done before, in a small town in North Carolina.

My childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is.  ~Ron Olson