Sometimes Florida feels like a foreign country.
I mean, sure, I’m dodging geckos and falling palm fronds as opposed to shuffling through red sugar maple leaves, but it’s more than that.
I mean, sure, I’m dodging geckos and falling palm fronds as opposed to shuffling through red sugar maple leaves, but it’s more than that.
Shopping,
for instance. At the grocery store last week, I was pinned to a refrigerated
case by a woman going on and on about the glories of some pro-biotic fruit
drink when all I wanted was to grab a quick sugar-laced smoothie to chug so I wouldn’t
buy everything in the place. The pasta aisle produced a small moment of shame
too, as I reached for a couple boxes of the house brand el cheapo spaghetti while
another woman next to me piously put green spinach linguini in her cart.
And
good luck getting a non-paper straw for your Margherita, but I’ve yet to see anyone
other than me bring in their own bags to carry their groceries home. (In
Massachusetts, stores are beginning to charge for each bag they provide. And in
Connecticut they’re getting downright snippy.)
Also, with a real shortage of cart corrals,
grocery carts are generally dragged laboriously up onto the curbed tree belt
dividing the parking lots. Not the easiest task, and always surprising to me
given the median age of the population around here.
Especially
confusing is trying to buy clothes. It’s October. I get it. Pumpkins
everywhere, Halloween candy, and naturally, Christmas decorations. Except it’s
been upper 80s for the entire month, with humidity that rockets the heat index
into the upper 90s. With a real need for shorts and a few T shirts, I went
shopping. There we all were in the heavily air-conditioned store in our sleeveless
shirts and sandals confronted by nothing but sweaters, boots, and jeans. And
parkas.
I really hate that out of season shopping thing. Mid to late winter and I need a pair of boots. What do I find in the shops? Strappy sandals by the thousands, cute little slip-ons, tennis shoes. I've worn the same parka for 25 years now because they're never in the shops when I want to buy one, instead they have racks and racks of swimwear, which are naturally all sold out by the time summer actually gets here.
ReplyDeleteI wear winter attire everywhere. No one has turned off A/C yet!
ReplyDeleteyep. Our supermarkets here in New Hampshire are powered by the cold cases, and even on the hottest of days I bring a sweater. In winter, add gloves.
DeleteYour title says it all.
ReplyDeleteTell me about it....I'm in Seattle instead of Montana, and people are complaining about the cold when it's 45....and wearing parkas.
ReplyDeleteWhen we went to California several years ago, we arrived to a balmy 65 deg. April day. We were wearing summer clothes, watching the locals in fur lined parkas, fuzzy mittens, and knee high winter boots (those San Francisco blizzards are intense)...
DeleteUnlike Joanne, I wear summer attire for most of the year. And how I wish the heating was turned down (if not off).
ReplyDeleteWe have been required to bring our own bags to stores for yonks (or pay for the bags the store provides). I always have a couple with me.
You can get by with shorts in Florida for almost the entire year. When I was a kid I used to wear a heavy coat for a few months in winter, but these days you just don't need it! I blame climate change!
ReplyDelete