Today's Visit to the Supermarket

There are just some things in life that really annoy me. We have an organisation in Switzerland, VCS, which translated roughly means the traffic club of Switzerland. There is a lot that hides behind this name, but mainly they are of the opinion that there are far too many cars on the roads and something should be done to reduce them. This is a very nice environment friendly idea, but as most good ideas, it works well on paper, but perhaps not in actual life. I think the idea is that we all take our bicycles and go shopping with them. I cannot ride a bike and am too old to start now.

We have a very good supermarket nearby in another village. It was originally converted from an old factory about 20-30 years ago. The idea was good and the supermarket was quite big, although it started having some symptoms of old age. For this reason it was decided to expand and redesign it. Part of the plan has been set into action, and the sales space is more than double, the goods offered being a housewife's dream. However, there is a hair in the soup, as in most good ideas. Our environmental friendly party, VCS, decided to object. They found that there are far too many parking spaces for cars and this would only lead to bad air and everything else that car hating organisations dislike. This all went through various objections and permission was only given to expand the supermarket if the parking spaces were suited to the situation, meaning there should be less. The result is that many people are no longer going to this supermarket due to difficulties in finding a parking space. At the moment the whole concept of parking is going through a new thought process.

Today we were greeted by the crane which blocked at least a third of the available spaces for cars. The area for parking was always uncovered, but this bothered no-one really. After all you only park the car for as long as you shop and then leave again. This VCS organisation somehow has influenced that most of the spaces will now be covered. Big deal, if it rains or snows your car is safe. On the other hand almost half of the up-to-now spaces disappear.

The rumour is very strong that when the planning of the parking lot is finished, it will no longer be free, but we will have to pay for the privilege of parking there. I have noticed that the supermarket customers are now a lot less than they used to be although the sales space is a lot more. Personally I think the whole planning will become a great flop. Even the 10% reduction for senior citizens on Tuesday no longer seems to have an influence on the sales. Although due to the reduced parking places we had difficulty finding somewhere to park, inside the store seemed to be deserted.

Mr. Swiss and I were talking today about changing our shopping place. Another village also has a large shopping center, not so big, but with much more parking spaces for cars. It would mean perhaps five minutes longer to get there, but less strain on the nerves. So now I have got that off my mind, tomorrow begins the new shopping adventure in a new village and the following photo will be a thing of the past.