Life is all about routines and it doesn’t matter whether you are young, middle-aged or old routines are a part and parcel of daily living. Sometimes routines can become very, very monotonous, but nevertheless, if they’re avoided then something about organisation can come adrift.

Of all the routines and necessities, the one I like the least is going shopping. I don’t like the crowds in shops and in shopping malls, I don’t like the behaviour so often manifest requiring security guards to be on duty all the time, and I don’t like the inordinate wait at checkouts.

Check out queues are getting longer and longer and in Darwin at least the supermarkets seem to be employing fewer and fewer staff to open check out pricing points. The supermarket that I mainly go to is quite large and serve a population within the area of some 10 or 12,000.

Often these days, only one checkout is open, with customers either having to go through self-serve or lineup at the express lane which is slow as a week, because it also supports people buying cigarettes.

I do not like shopping. I know it has to be done but if I can avoid it and put it off by getting bye for another day or two –That’s what happens!