“Let’s Get a Melon!”

This past Saturday we once again did our groceries by bicycle.  Two things were different from the first trip:

1. We went to the closer of the two independent grocery stores
2. We planned to buy a lot more stuff

The big downside to riding to the closer grocery store was that we didn’t get to ride the nice path along the creek. Instead, a full half of the distance was spent on a very busy road where the bike lane disappears at a most inopportune time. This definitely made the bike ride less fun.
We had a big list, as we criss-crossed the store grabbing each of the items on our list, the shopping cart filled quickly. Chicken breast was on sale, so we picked up five pounds of that. We were doing barbeque for both of our fathers for Father’s Day, so one and a half pounds of steak was grabbed. We needed milk, eggs, sugar… the cart just kept getting more and more full. As we passed the fruit stand Cynthia turned to me and said “Let’s get a melon!” and grabbed a lemon drop melon*.

We were able to get everything on our list but a small bag of specialty flour I wanted to experiment with, so Cynthia offered to load the bike while I walked over to the arab grocery for the flour.

When I get back to the bikes with my five pound bag of flour, I see Cynthia holding a grocery bag. She’s packed the cooler as tight as it will go, but still had about five pounds of stuff left over. Adding five pounds of flour to the bag in her hand was just too much to hang on her handlebar, so we rearranged the cooler moving some bulkier but lighter items out and packing denser stuff (like the flour) in. I don’t know how close we got to the trailer’s 70 pound limit, but it sure wasn’t the most stable ride home. It even bent one of the cotter pins** that holds the trailer in place…

All in all, a far less enjoyable grocery run; but, we managed. Lessons for next time:

1. Bring my pannier bags so we can pack more onto my bike and not have stuff swinging from Cynthia’s handlebar.
2. If we are getting a huge amount of stuff, maybe even bring a backpack
3. When the shopping cart is getting full, don’t buy a melon

* A Lemon Drop Melon looks like honey dew. I’m not a fan of them because every time I take a bite my brain is confused by the odd (slightly lemony) flavour. It’s not that they don’t taste good, it’s just that eating it is too confusing for my poor taste buds that keep expecting a honey dew.

** Because my trailer was used, I don’t have the original locking pins, instead I use standard cotter pins which cost $0.15 each. Cotter pins are designed to be bent, so I expect that with the original pins nothing unusual would have happened. Thankfully when I purchased the cotter pins, I got a few spares.