Grocery Store Differences

Thank goodness we live a block away from a Tesco Express - it's a sort of mini super market, if you will. It has most of the basics and then some, but just no vast array of product selections like the big ones. This is great, because it means we can just walk there daily or every other day to restock on eggs, milk, TP, onions etc... But every now and then we need to do a major shopping trip, so we drive to the real super market down the road.
When Simon and I first went in there, we were a little taken aback, because everything was laid out way differently from what we were used to in the US. Presentation is certainly lacking in UK grocery stores. And no fancy produce rain showers either. It's just all laid out in crates on the floor and you pick through the stuff daily. At the end of the day, the store looks half picked over, and it really is. It's funny to see meat flying off the shelves and sold out in the evening. They put non sold out things on the ends in "priced to sell" sections. That's where we shop because, like just about everything here, food is twice as expensive as I think it ought to be in dollars. Although drugs are certainly way cheaper. I just bought the equivalent of Tylenol for about 2 cents per pill! A little box of 16 pills was just 16 pence (about 25 US cents).
Oh, but I really love how people here don't burn through plactic bags like they do in the states. Here, most people have reusable bags, and the teller will ask you if you need bags in sort of a guilt inducing manner. It's totally normal to see young people, old guys in suits, mothers with babies, and anyone else just walk to their local market with a backpack and load up their groceries, meat included, in the bag. There are certainly no huge plastic bag lazy susans like in Walmart where they practically put each item in it's own little plastic tomb which will sit in a landfill for all eternity.
On the whole I can't really complain too much (although I do!) on the selection of food. I just need to get a little more used to how people eat over here. I can't expect the great produce that I was used to in the US, and California in particular..... Oh, how I would love to see lots of yummy avocados reasonably priced and strawberries from Watsonville or Oxnard. A Mexican food aisle would make me a happy camper too. But, we do have come interesting food that you can't get in the US, so I'm trying to test it all out one by one. I bought Oxtail soup in a can yesterday and custard powder too. I decided to pass on the spotted dick though... Yikes, sounds like a VD waiting to happen! But I'll let you know how the soup and custard taste!
No other news on my front. I've been sick this week, so I didn't go to my baby yoga or mommies group, as being sick and going where there are little babies isn't a very nice thing to do. So, no social interactions for me this week - unless you count the grocery store check out person!