Words that send shivers down your spine (even when its really hot outside): When the pharmacist asks "By which mode of transport did you get here?"...and then laughs.

After convincing me I could hook one bag over each handlebar and hold the other two in my hands, my look of disbelief must have persuaded him to try and pack some of the bags into the other bags...especially when I then said I'd probably prefer to walk as it wasn't that far.

Fortunately once all packed it actually wasn't too bad, and Mrs F did only live about 5 minutes up the road, but a pack horse or mule could have been handy. Mrs F's son answered the door from the upstairs window and I left the bags on the doorstep...it wasn't quite the crossing of a great desert, but the mule definitely needed some water at the end of it!