on the fine art of bagging groceries, and a few words of groceries-by-bicycle philosophy.

one learns when one starts bringing one's own bags to the grocery store, that present-day grocery baggers are trained to bag groceries... for the present day. presently, most people say "plastic, please." in fact, at jewel, i'm not sure 'paper' is even an option. and those plastic bags are cheaper than air. way cheaper than a broken dozen eggs; cheaper even than a tomato that's had a run-in with a can of pineapple. because those bags are so cheap, grocery baggers are trained in the opposite of conservation. that's why you so often get home to find that you have several bags that contain only one item each.

in our area, there really aren't any 'bag your own groceries' stores. i moved here from the twin cities. with a couple of schmancy exceptions (marvelously schmancy, i must say -- byerly's i love your doughnuts!! lund's i love your cubed steaks!!), the twin cities are a bag-your-own kind of place, and have been for over 25 years. so bagging groceries is second nature to me. once in a while i still forget, head down to the end of the conveyor to start filling bags, then say, "oops" and look sheepish.

what i'm getting at, is that this getting the groceries into the panniers-thing might turn out to be tricky. meaning, socially awkward. i'm all for educating folks on stuff like, that some people ride their bikes to the grocery store (ok, for now it's just me, but maybe some of you guys will start, too). but that's not the point. it's not why i do it. i don't want to be all, "ooh. look how awesome and virtuous i am, and look how you totally suck for driving to the grocery store." not. i just don't feel that way. always driving to the store just bugged me, personally, because i love my bike, and i love the fact that this groovy piece of 'recreational' equipment is also excellent transportation. i've been fascinated by that fact ove bicycles ever since i was six years old -- and i didn't even get to learn to ride a bike until i was 7 or 8. what i'm getting at, is i can see a day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when i might just cave and let the grocery bagger person put all of my groceries in jewel bags, and then re-bagging them myself outside.

crazy, right? but you didn't see the baffled look on the bagger's face as he looked from me, to my gallon of milk, and back to me. and you didn't hear him ask, "do you want this in there, too?" of course the answer is yes, but geez. i can be a little impatient. i didn't just say, "yes." i said, "i'm on my bike. it's not like i have a car."

i could have kicked myself.

because while i don't want to attract a huge amount of attention and be a complete asshole about the whole thing, i truly would like to convey the impression (to anyone who might notice me on my metallic red mountain bike with the bright yellow panniers) that the bicycle really isn't a bad way to make a grocery run. i would like to convey the impression that some grownups ride bicycles to get places and do stuff. and i would like to be one more bicycle on the roads, just a little more often. because it makes the roads safer for all cyclists. kids included.

i do not want to piss people off, or make them feel stupid.