Let us ease into this slowly.
--Forward the excellent list of in-language #heatwave resources from King County Public health? Uhhh...
--Add personalized tips and tricks:
--All public transit vehicles have AC. It can be worth braving the heat to get to a bus.
--If one's home has no fan or AC, a damp cloth on one's head or around one's shoulders can make a big difference
--All the advice says drink water even if you are not thirsty. The point is to stay hydrated. If you really, really, really hate plain water, squeeze in some fresh lime or dilute fruit juice, gatorade..over ice. Coffee and tea do dehydrate a person but if being properly caffeinated makes everything more bearable it's still iquid.
--ice cubes for the human. Steady supply. Check.
--Ice pack in case a cool space is needed for the cat check.
--Grocery lists for delivery in case the bus has no appeal or one decides one doesn't even want to think about carrying groceries.
--Multicolor flyer for Amazon Fresh grand opening. Check. It came on a different day from all the other smelly grocery ads so RantWoman gave it a look.
Now ready to start the day
Even partly closing the blinds seems to make a difference about apartment temperature.
Take all the paper bags full of paper Amazon delivery bags to the recycling.
Head out. Destination: Walgreen's and the New Amazon Fresh Store.
Walgreen's as always good for reminding RantWoman of the topical phrase supply chain disruption. The staff is generally cheerful and realistic so RantWoman certainly wants them to stay in business.Today, in contrast to the #pandemic ups and downs of toilet paper supplies for the household market, there was plenty of toilet paper, and even better, toilet paper in package sizes easy for RantWoman to deal with.RantWoman is also still in "if you see it buy it even a little ahead" mode about basics such as black tea. RantWoman was looking for another item what has probably moved and RantWoman did not feel like asking..
On to the new Amazon Fresh store.
First, cross S. Jackson. Does RantWoman want to walk a block to the stoplight? Um..RantWoman is probably not going to be the only person crossing Jackson at 24th. Enough said.
It's a grand opening so the entrance near 23rd is full of music and people offering free beverage samples and cookies. RantWoman decided just to pass and headed into the store.
There are a few grocery carts at this entrance. There are also both stairs and escalators down. There is no sign of an elevator but RantWoman figured out she needed to turn left. There are some tables that overlook the main store area and then a long walkway to the other side of the store. There a friendly young woman wanted to know whether RantWoman--and Ambassador Thwack--wanted the store or the parking garage. The store, PLEASE, and if one could pass on the parking garage fumes too especially in the winter...
Sigh. Much as RantWoman wants to like the place, the entry off the street and then stairs or obligatory exposure to parking garage fumes if one needs an elevator rate about a C+ for the entourage RantWoman typically travels with.
RantWoman found the elevator and the buttons and rode to floor 1.
There was a much bigger supply of both green and yellow shopping carts. The store is huge!
The store was full of customers and staff and product testers. The interior is well lit with wide aisles, the sort of situation that RantWoman finds visually difficult but where having anyone to tag along with would not necessarily be helpful.
RantWoman's primary mission today was the produce department. For one thing, delivery bananas just have not been an entirely happy experience. RantWoman prefers her bananas slightly green, NOT perfectly ripe. So RantWoman was excited just to pick out her own bananas. RantWoman also had an electronic shopping cart full of produce items in her Amazon app. RantWoman wound up buying several but not all of them.
RantWoman is trying to decide whether she would be willing to tolerate her phone asking her whether she wants to know which aisle some of the items are in. As long as RantWoman is willing to experiment about leaving the thinking to technology, what about asking RantWoman whether she want to delete items from the online shopping cart if she has bought them in the store?
Next RantWoman visited the dairy case. It's a perfectly lovely dairy case with not only actual milk products but also soy, almond, oat, flax milks. One thing RantWoman did not see: buttermilk. RantWoman knows buttermilk is not necessarily a big seller. RantWoman also knows she is not the only freak on the planet who buys the stuff. Stay tuned .
RantWoman found the bread aisle. She had to remind herself that it's a squintillion degrees outside, she is enjoying the AC and if she really wants cheaper bread, she CAN walk to to the Franz thrift store a few blocks away. Then RantWoman reminder herself about the time value of money and just bought bread.
Somewhere in this mind altering substances are unnecessary visual experience, RantWoman realized that even if Ambassador Thwack gets folded up during shopping, maybe it would be a good idea to keep him on top of her purse so MAYBE people would realize RantWoman sees badly. RantWoman has no idea whether this trick works but RantWoman will aim in the future for in-person shopping times when the store is not quite so full of workers eager to show the place off.
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| The after dinner version of the sushi box. |
By this time RantWoman's brain was getting full and it was time for lunch. RantWoman found the case with various sushi options and decided sushi sounded good. The sushi WAS good. RantWoman just wound up eating it for supper. The sushi comes packed with a green sushi leaf and then a dab og fabulous HOT wasabi and big shreds of grated ginger.
RatnWoman found a demo table with young women offering samples of either the sushi or the mac and cheese. RantWoman already planned to buy some sushi so she opted for the very cheesy mac and cheese. Then she opted to find the full hot bar and a sales box. Sushi could wait for supper. At the hot bar, next to the mac and cheese there were..greens, the perfect thing not only to balance the meal but also to partly fill the sales box so RantWoman would not wind up with too much mac and cheese.
At this point RantWoman was truly done so the young woman at the checkout totally saved RantWoman's sould. RantWoman carries her own bags for one thing because they have shoulder straps rather than the puny hand straps on the paper bags on offer. At some stores clerks are squeamish about RantWoman bags and she as to pack her own groceries, but today's clerk cheerfully--and sensibly-- packed RantWoman's groceries to balanced the load, protect the eggs, and bread. She probably would have done fine about the bananas too but RantWoman is so fussy about being the one responsible for whatever happens to the bananas that she packed her own.
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| Shopping cart after shopping |
Next, back to the elevators and another helpful young woman who let RantWoman leave her groceries in her cart, told RantWoman there would be a door to the outside on level 3. At this point RantWoman was ready to eat lunch, ready not to have to worry about carrying her box of mac and cheese too far. Behold, a concrete installation that may or may not be intended to function as a bench. RantWoman sat, took offer her mask, sucked in a couple lungfuls of wildfire smoke and set about enjoying her meal.
The greens were excellent, as in RantWoman would recommend them to RantMom who is just not as adventurous about greens as RantWoman. While RantWoman was eating, an African American woman from the neighborhood walked by and asked RantWoman what it was like. Huge. It could get expensive. The The mac and chees is great. greens are really good. Fancy and good. RantWoman and the other woman agreed: we make our own mac and cheese at home. The woman also told RantWoman someone she knows will soon be opening a soul food restaurant in one of the storefronts. Something to look forward to and a bold step in times of pandemic.
RantWoman finished lunch without too much wildfire smoke, looked around for a trash receptable for the food box and finally just picked her bags up out of the cart, put the used box into the cart and left it parked near the door she came out of. Then RantWoman caught an easy bus home and stayed out of the heat the rest of the day.
RantWoman, um, has opinions about the entry situation but the opinions can wait. RantWoman will definitely come back.
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