shops

there is a great thing about moving to a new country that's linked to the one you came from though. it was awesome to move here but be completely familiar with the shops/chains/grocery store/high street culture. it's totally different from home, yet familiar from having spent last year in london.

i knew what sainsburys or asda or tesco or pounstretcher or m&s or bhs or the others could do for me. i knew that if i needed one thing i would direct my search one way but for something else, i'd go down a different path. i know what to look for at tesco vs what to get at sainsburys vs what to wait and first search for if i'm making a trip to asda. i know what i'm passing on the high street as far as betting shops, 'fast food' type options, and department stores and clothing shops.

which is something i'd take for granted at home. sure, at home you might just go to the mall. but even there you know all the shops and where you want to go for what. so while here the mall is the high street (because it was like being in the twilight zone at that mall last week), i had the same basic understanding of shopping culture here. and that's reassuring. it's nice. it's nice to move somewhere so different yet know at least something of how some basic part of life works.