Where Kylie is a Dufus

I'll be the first to admit, this is quite a regular occurrence, me being a dufus. But I need to vent a little today.

You see, a few weeks back I went to my friend's church, and at the service, ran into some people that I haven't seen in years, and who most definitely wouldn't normally go to that church. We did the usual swopping of the phone numbers and so on, and I didn't think anything more of it - it was just pleasantries, right?

Anyway, last week they phoned me to see if I wanted to come to their church, and also to stay for lunch at their place. Well, I'll admit, I was a bit apprehensive about it, but I accepted, because I kind of figured, if I didn't, then they'd keep asking til I did. The only problem is that their church is about 60km away from me - so 120km round trip.

So I went, and I'll admit, I had a good time. I saw some people I haven't seen in ages, and I enjoyed playing in the band and so on. It was kind of a bit strange to see traditional Salvation Army in action again, but it was nice, and I did genuinely have fun. The only downer is that I think they were kind of hoping I would say I would move there permanently - but I'm not doing 120 km twice a week (Sundays + rehearsals) - so that's not gonna happen.

Anyway, that's not the dufus bit - although part of it is, I guess, as who turns up to a traditional Salvation Army corps (where you know they're all wearing uniform) in black pants and a bright red blouse? Hmmm. Dufus moment part one...

No, the real dufus moment happened on the way home. You see, I got about 15 minutes into my hour long journey, and I got that real urgent call of nature, so I stopped off at shopping centre I happened to be passing at the time. After answering the call, I had a quick look at my surroundings, and discovered a Coles and a Woolies there. I thought to myself that perhaps I should do my grocery shopping now for the week. Immediately that thought entered my head, and the other half of my brain said "You kidding? Its 30 degrees outside and you have no chiller bag and another 45 minutes or so to go!" Plus, I thought to myself, at this time of day they wouldn't yet have reduced the cooked chooks.

"Why is that so important?" you may well ask. The answer is quite simple. You see, my 'investment' property has been vacant for sometime, with no income coming in, and I've been having to pay the full mortgage myself - on top of paying my own rent and bills. In addition to that, my other 'investment' property became vacant last week - and won't be occupied til the end of next week - so I'll have to carry that one too. This means that for the last few weeks, I have been living on a piece of bread and a prayer. Literally.

And that's when I discovered that if you go to Coles, or Woolies, about 30 minutes before closing time, they do the lovely markdown thing. They halve the price of their cooked chooks and their bakery items, and if you time it just right, you can get some good deals. The cooked chook is especially a good deal, as the price for a regular sized one goes down to $4 - I can't buy a chook and cook it for that - and that size chook will feed me at least 4 meals, so this is a real bargain. But of course, if I do my grocery shopping now, before 'markdown madness', I'll pay double for a chook that's been sitting there the best part of the afternoon. Wisely, I decided to wait til I got home before going shopping.

So I got home at about 4.30, and with the shops shutting at 6, I pottered about a bit, killing time before heading off for my reduced chook. I got to the shops about 5.15 and gathered up the other bits and pieces I wanted, and then waited at the chook section. No reductions yet - but alarmingly, not many chooks were actually there. Probably about 10 or so.

Just then, the bakery markdown announcement came over the PA, so I went to check out doughnuts which I knew I shouldn't buy for 50c (and actually I was very good, I left them there). I then went back to the chooks - still no reductions, and still about 7-8 chooks left.

Not wanting to hang out like some sort of chook markdown Nazi, I wandered up another couple of aisles to kill a few minutes, and then decided to head back to the chooks, telling myself that if they weren't marked down this time, I'd just pick one up anyway - 4 meals for $8 is still not so bad.

Only when I got there, some man picked up the last one, and it wasn't even reduced! And he took it over to the deli counter and asked them to reduce it, and THEY DID!!!!

What a dufus - I could've done that earlier, and I would've had a chook - now I have no chook, and I have to spend more money on those meals than intended!!!! Aaaaagggghhhhh!!!

Thanks a lot, Coles Nundah - what a waste of time!