Stubborn

I am stubborn... sometimes to my own detriment. When S'bury's introduced a pricing system for special card holders during the 2021 recession... I began a boycott of their stores. I'm sure they are hurting now. To have a two tier pricing system that meant I could not buy peanut butter at the same price as someone prepared to share their data felt unfair and I told the store manager when they were called to deal with my demands that it should be one price for all. I know most stores do something like this... but I can't cross the threshold of any S'bury's stores anymore. We lost another major food supplier in Newport last week and the choices feel a bit slimmer. I try to use the farmers market in Cardiff on Saturday and Sundays as much as I can and I enjoy the camaraderie those occasions often afford with growers, producers and other punters. My weekly routine is fairly erratic due to work and travel commitments and my trips to Cardiff become less easy to plan. I wonder what happened to the supposed gentrification of Newport that estate agents prophesied after the severn bridge became free to use. Two young American missionaries stopped me today and asked me where I found my strength. I said I was very aware of my weaknesses and fragilities and revelled in the humbleness that those states of being facilitate. I am such a big head. I do like to have a counter tone when approached in this way. It's happened a few times. These young men are here to offer us salvation... and they are not the only ones. There is quite a bit of street preaching today... God is love they say. He is love, he knows everything, they said. Then I guess he knows that I didn't go to the closest place to buy some spinach and he knows I'm cynical and consider "he" as a patriarchal construct. I do believe in love though... I'm not that stubborn.