SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2007 - EIGHT ... GREAT!

Well, it's another Sunday visit again this week and, my word, the car park is empty! All those spaces I've coveted and aspired to over the weeks are free and I triumphantly park in pole position - right by the doors to the orangery. Down the escalator (not turned on, very disconcerting and disorientating), still all nice and quiet, turn the corner and ... the store is closed. It doesn't open until 11 and it's now 10.15. Bugger. So a big decision - go home again or kill time for 45 minutes. I know I'm sad but hanging around for 45 minutes to wait for Sainsbury's to open has to be the pinnacle of sadness so home it was for a cup of coffee. Returning at 11.15, what a transformation! The car park is pretty much full and the store is heaving. Clearly not the time to come! Anyway, my disappointment at being totally unable to beat the rush was tempered by some excitement on the way into the store - a man had dropped 6 bottles of wine in one of those cardboard carrier things and was glumly eyeing his St Emillion (for that is what it was) as it sloshed around on the floor. He looked so terribly sad! £30 literally down the drain. But he did have it coming, it has to be said, because the carrier was from ... Tescos! Clearly every little did not help in his (wine) case. Bypassing the wine lake (goodness red wine smells terrible at 11 on a Sunday morning) I enter the store and, continuing on the subject of wine, I notice a notice in the wine aisles proudly announcing that Sainsbury's has won the 2007 Drinks Buying Team award! Now how about that for a job? Buying drinks for a living - your round or mine, who cares! Interestingly, though, the Sainsbury's website doesn't mention this at all, which is all a bit strange. Maybe there has been some kind of leak (appropriate for drinks buying, don't you think?) and Sainsbury's have sent round their announcements either before the award has been announced or, perish the thought, before it has even been judged. Hmmmm. Whatever, it sounds like a bit of a non-award - if indeed Sainsbury's have won the Drinks Buyer of the Year and as they have already won the Wine Retailer of the Year what else is there to win? How about the Wine Warehouser of the Year Award or the Moving Cases of Wine Round the Country in an Environmentally Friendly Way Award or ... well, you get my drift. Awards for awards sake? Moving on, the 'Night In' bowls & plates are still there and it would seem that very few, if any, have been given away. I can't see them being there much longer - I wonder what will happen to them when they are rounded up when the promotion finishes? I hope they go to a good home and are not just taken down to the local tip. In truth, Sainsbury's will need the room for all the Easter eggs that are starting to crowd into the store, taking over from all the Mother's Day stuff that is all over the place (today's the day, if you'd forgotten). Anyway, on to the checkout and as luck would have it row 8 (one of my last two) was open, albeit with a longish queue. As I couldn't pass up the opportunity to claim my penultimate scalp I joined the queue, despite checkout 7 having no queue (customers already in the checkout 8 queue eyed me with suspicion). As I was waiting my turn I noticed a machine tucked away by the trolley park called a Coinstar which was proudly displaying the slogan 'Turn Coins into Cash'. I'm not sure what this machine does and the the ridiculous slogan doesn't help at all - it's a bit like saying 'Turn Water into Liquid'. Whatever, the machine looks dusty and disused and it may not be here much longer so I will need to check it out quickly and let you know how you indeed can ... turn coins into cash. So, only checkout 24 to go, the last one in the line, hopefully it will be open at Easter, otherwise I will have to write to Mr King and ask him to open it specially for me before my year is up!

Items bought 22

Cost £29.10

Average cost per item £1.32

Checkout number 8 (yippee!)

Nectar points 810