Today's shopping for Mrs U felt very much like groceries for my other South Ealing client - but with a hint of drama! I took the Friday afternoon off work and decided to do a couple of missions to top up my karma balance while I was in the area. Mission Control made it possible for me to schedule those tasks for a convenient time as there were no other takers. What I realised was that I had not made the clause for Mrs U's task clear enough up front: I wouldn't be able to go to Lidl. Mrs U found that out when I arrived after my 50-something minutes walk.

At first, Mrs U seemed devastated by the news and ready to drop the list and call off the whole operation. She looked at the Lidl section of her shopping list which didn't really have anything Lidl-specific in it. She exclaimed: "oh dear" for key items that she wasn't going to get from Lidl (like bananas and onion). Knowing Mrs U, I had expected that scenario (including the series of "oh dears") if she hadn't found out about the no-Lidl clause beforehand.

Not willing to spend an hour in South Ealing (with all respect to the residents) doing nothing, I softened the gaze of my steely eyes and initiated negotiations. I believed it was possible to buy all the essentials locally without spending a fortune. I explained that I have time constraints and a minor injury I don't want to aggravate by running. Mrs U explained her strong preference for Lidl products, particularly the black seedless grapes. She expressed disdain towards the grapes from Sainsbury's I got her a couple of weeks ago due to Lidl grapes shortage. She found those sour and not great for her teeth. I bought that argument. I enquired whether Mrs U had another plan to get the items from Lidl if I cannot go there and whether the milk, carrots and onion from the local supermarkets are really that different from the ones from Lidl. Mrs made arguments about the greenishness of Lidl bananas and the size of semi-skimmed milk bottles that made absolutely no sense to me (an opinion I kept to myself). We agreed I would try to buy everything - apart from the regrettable grapes - without venturing to West Ealing.

I bought all products in South Ealing's Sainsbury's and Co-Op in half the time of my usual Lidl trip. And I didn't run for a second. I managed to get the 30% less fat cheese which I knew was not available in Lidl. The frozen garden peas I purchased in Saino's actually had a chance to survive the journey. The clear honey from the same supermarket was available in a 454 g jar which was 100% up to Mrs U's spec.

I performed the drop-off at Mrs U's in a quick and non-spectacular manner, then set off to visit another South Ealing resident to hunt for another round of 4 pints of semi-skimmed milk, Onken set yoghurt and greenish bananas.