Cheap Batteries!

            On Thursday I used the AP Tuner on my computer for the first time but I hardly even needed it. Since we seemed to be out of the extremely muggy part of the summer my guitar hardly went out of tune at all from when I tried out the software the night before.

            Around midday I rode down to the bank machine at King and Dufferin because my Trillium Benefit had come through and there was $60 in my account. Then I went directly to Queen and Westlodge because I wanted to buy a CR-2032 battery for my clip-on tuner. I locked my bike to the signpost in front of the store but found the store locked, with a note that read “Back in 3 minutes”. I went up a few doors the street to the Lucky Supermarket, but they didn’t have that kind of battery and I remember that they never have. I went across to Fullworth and the place was empty, except for the checkout person and the manager, who was scratching a lottery card. I showed him the battery and he led me to where they were. He took down a package of two and I was about to say that I only wanted one when he surprised me by telling me that it was $1.99 for two. They charge twice as much for one battery at Young’s Fine Foods, but I guess they sell a higher end brand. These were Camelion brand, which I’d never heard of. Possibly one won’t last as long but I have two now.

            Next I took my bike home, put it in the hall and then walked to Bike Pirates to put $10 in their donation box. It wasn’t much for four hours of work and a crankset but I’m poor.

            I had $48 left to buy some groceries, so I headed for Freshco. Their grapes were very cheap so I grabbed a couple of bags. I got two bunches of bananas, one ripe and one less so, a watermelon and a package of mini-packs of raisins. The Ontario peaches were out, so I picked eight of those. I got a loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread. I was sorely in need of meat since I hadn’t had any for about a week. For the last two days I had been eating a thick soup that I’d made with navy beans, beef broth, onions, tomato paste and spices. It was actually quite tasty but I’d been farting like crazy as a result. There was a pork sirloin half on sale for a little over $8. That would be delicious and good for several meals. I also needed coffee and I’d brought with me a No Frills flyer so I could do a price match on 920 grams of Folgers, which Freshco was selling for $10.99, but No Frills had for $6.88. I took three containers of yogourt and a tub of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” with buttermilk. It seems to me that it would be more appropriate if they came up with an ingredient called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buttermilk” to add to their margarine.

            At the checkout I was surprised to find that the total was more than I had. I usually work it out in my head while I’m shopping and round it up so that it’s always less than I have. I gave back the margarine and one of the yogourts so I could pay for everything. I only remembered when I left the store that I hadn’t miscalculated at all. I’d just forgotten to do the price match and so I’d ended up paying full price for the Folgers coffee. I don’t even like Folgers enough to pay full price for it. I could have had an extra $4 in my pocket if I hadn’t been ripped off by my own forgetfulness.

            That afternoon I took a bike ride up to O’Connor and St Clair and then further north to Yardley and Westview, which I took to Victoria Park. It probably would have only taken a few minutes for me to finish exploring that area but I decided to get home as soon as possible and start cooking that roast.

            When I got home I started preparing the pork sirloin. I stabbed it a few times all around, and then I mixed gargarine, rosemary, paprika, salt and leftover flat beer and rubbed the mixture into it. I roasted it for an hour, but there were still red parts inside so I gave it another thirty minutes and it was fine.

            I watched an episode of Maverick that guest starred Connie Stevens as a kooky, happy go lucky girl with a tragic past who attaches herself amorously to Bret Maverick and won’t let go no matter how hard he tries to get away. One of the bad guys was played by Adam West, who I didn’t recognize at first through the moustache, but finally after hearing him speak for a while I thought, “That sounds like Adam West!” He was very slim back then and so he was hardly convincing as a tough guy, but it was comical the way that he was so polite when he and another crook were brutally beating Maverick up.