Grocery shopping in my neighborhood was upended three years ago when Treasure Island, a local chain, suddenly went out of business. It took a full year for the owner of the building to find a new tenant, and the replacement, Trader Joe's, is highly problematic. The range of goods that they sell is extremely narrow (apparently because the company's founder, now dead, had fixed ideas about what people should and shouldn't eat), and the produce, meat, and fish that I've bought there have been of highly variable quality. (I could go on form there.)
But there is one very good thing about Trader Joe's: almost without exception, the staff are well-informed, enthusiastic, helpful, and polite — a huge change from what we're used to here in Hyde Park! The heavily tattooed and pierced young man at the check-out counter today asked if I had anything exciting planned for the rest of the day.
I told him that tonight is Call the Midwife night.
"Oh, yeah!" he replied with enthusiasm. "I love those British shows! My favorite is... I forget the title, but it's about a detective in a seaside town."
"Foyle's War," I informed him, with what I'd say was remarkable calm.