No pain, no grain 🥲

Throughout the week I saw three consecutive listings for a mission in a familiar spot: Mrs U's home. It was listed as a task for Mr J, Mr and Mrs J, and Mrs P. I finally signed up for the weekend slot - as I could not do weekdays (just as anyone else this week). I was not surprised that all these secret identities led to Mrs U! What I did not anticipate was that with each day of delay on the groceries, the shopping list was growing longer...

The List of Doom contained a record number of 21 products (where a single item could actually be two packets of yoghurt or beans or 2.5 kg of potatoes). I did my best not to show a mild shock but some people say I have quite an expressive face. Thank god I was wearing a mask.

Based on previous experience with my service, Mrs U already learned not to question my lifting capacity and just asked politely whether I need more bags. I certainly did. I had no idea how I am going to carry all that stuff for 1.5 miles without my trusted big rucksack. I was going to do another mission in the afternoon, so I haven't brought the big rucksack with me, only a small one which was more aerodynamic. Resourceful Mrs U provided me with a drawstring bag which later has proven to be very handy and left only very minor marks on my shoulders.

On my way to the shops, I fought the thoughts about taking a bus on the way back or robbing older ladies at the market of their trolleys. I occupied my mind with French beans instead. What the heck are they? What do they look like? I figured out that green beans are probably my best bet. Another interesting item on the list was semolina. I heard about it many times before but never used it. In my head, it was always some kind of flour or grains - today's experience did not change that. Mrs U said she uses semolina to make chapatis. When I am writing this I am still longing for some homemade chapatis...

I managed to get all the items although I had to call Mrs U from Lidl to find out whether she accepts "mature cheddar, 35% less plastic" in absence of "mature cheese, 30% less fat. She did. She also asked whether I can get her the Indian cornflake mix from Sainsbury's I bought her another day. At that point, I had to set the first boundary. This time I have already done Sainsbury's shopping before heading to Lidl and it seemed to be a rush hour in both shops as queues to human tills accepting cash were insane. Having the second mission coming up soon I could not afford to go back to Saino's and said no. The last thing from the list I could not find in Lidl (vegetable oil), I got from the halal grocery store. Mrs U was not too happy about its price but she understood that it was not available in Lidl.

After I dropped all four bags of goods (ok, I squeezed them into three bags when handing over the shopping), Mrs U asked whether I want to come and rest for a bit. It was a lovely offer but I was about to start running late for the second mission of the day - it was 4.5 miles away and only a run was an option at that point.

Before I left, Mrs U asked whether I could give her a quick tour of the iPad she got from her younger relative. This is where I had to set the second boundary. I was gutted to say no again but it was well after the designated time for her mission and I was supposed to be on my way to the next one. I recalled the line from "Unbroken" by BIGMOO to feel better about it: "You know, sometimes in life you're gonna face the challenge, sometimes things are not going to go in alignment with your values. Sometimes things are going to challenge the human that you are and the human that you could possibly be". It helped. Well, at least I found the time earlier on to show Mrs U how to forward messages on WhatsApp. The iPad demo will have to wait for the next opportunity!