Almost getting it right

Walked all the way to Asda. I have no idea how long it took me, as I left my phone at home and never remember my watch, but I was pink in the face when I got there and it took a little while.

Nearly didn't buy anything extra, but not quite. I promised a treat for little bear as he had been so good this morning, so I got some egg custards to share. I also picked up a packet of semolina which I haven't had for years and quite fancied. I picked up some bananas and was on my way home before I remembered that I had two cooking apples, which darling father had brought in. Not enough for one each baked, but nice stewed and served with the semolina.

Also little bear will have the metallic red sugar sprinkles I was soft enough to buy. However a very light dusting of them seems to replace the honey for him, so that's a help. I'm getting metallic blue next. If it cheers him up at breakfast, in moderation I can live with it.

The shop had been open one day and there were yellow sticker items. I did blink at that, as I just couldn't believe it at first, but it was fresh sandwiches. They were always going to be a bit of a slow seller when there is a Greggs next to the tills. But if I get there in good time of a morning I may get lucky.

So, £10.78, including darling father's harvest festival offering and a nice and healthy lunch for me. I picked up the Asda Christmas savings card, and had a look.

I am not a huge fan of Christmas clubs, because your money is tied up even if you have an emergency and you get no interest. However you don't get much interest these days anyway. It is not registered to a name, so while you don't get spam or junk mail, if you lose the card, the money has gone. And you have to save £144 on the card (maximum allowed) to get the maximum bonus ('some time in November') of £6. Although at today's interest rates I suppose there are worse deals. Also, all your savings have to be spent at Asda (could be worse) and if Asda go bust you lose your money (not sure how likely this is, but worth remembering).

I plan to put on the change for each visit, so if I spent £10.78 on the visit, I would put 22p on the card, and that way I can put a little each time to save for the drinks next Christmas (I doubt there will be £5 by the time this Christmas comes!). I did try to put it on today, but the woman had just had her supervisor and her supervisor's supervisor struggle to sort out a little complication with the customer in front of me so when she looked at me in panic and said that she hadn't been shown how to do this, I decided to leave it for another day.