Store hours

I am not one for griping about work and I certainly dont shy from working lots of hours. But it is really annoying to not have 24 hour or at least open late stores here. If I work my normal US day (7:30 to 18:00ish) then go home I barely have time to get to the store.

The grocery stores in Marlborough, and most other smaller towns, close at 8pm during the weekday. Last night I got home about 19:00 had a quick dinner and then sent Evan up for a bath. But I needed to get some ibuprofen as my neck has been killing me recently. So I left T to finish up with Evan in the bath and ran down to the Waitrose. I got there at 20:03 and the doors were closed. They are dead serious about closing at 20:00, no ifs ands or buts.

Even today I left work at 18:20, got home, got dinner, and then ran down again and just barely made it into the store. I know that there are stores in larger cities that are open later (ASDA aka WalMart) and of course you can find a liquor store with longer hours. But forget it if you want a chemist or something like that after 20:00.

Just takes some getting used to it I suppose. You really have to plan your days accordingly as it is difficult to just pop out to the store for a quick something.