In the supermarket

I'm back from what I think is my fourth visit to various supermarkets. It seems that my strategy of wandering round randomly and buying things I see there that I fancy is perhaps not the most optimized.

I think I've probably been spoiled by Tesco - you don't realise just how convenient it is to have one of their aircraft hangar-sized supermarkets a couple of minutes drive away. There are a couple fairly close to the apartment, ranging from a Shoppers Drug Mart (think Boots) to a Loblaws (which reminds me of a small Morrisons in their range of products).

Looking round is weird. There are a number of brands I'm familiar with from the UK, though I may never get used to seeing "HP Sauce - L'Originale" on a bottle. There's a few that look strangely familiar, too - I'm pretty sure that Lays Potato Chips are related to Walkers. If they're not, someone's going to get sued....

The oddest part so far, I think, has been trying to find what I assumed were fairly generic products; though to be fair, there's a good chance that this is because I'm not looking in the right place. I'm also surprised that the staff members I've spoken to when wandering around looking lost haven't been much help - again, I guess I'm spoiled from Tesco staff members actually having a good working knowledge of the whole store. I've either got a blank look, or been directed off to Customer Services (who to their credit have been very helpful.)

So I've eventually managed to find some bacon and some sausages. The bacon is what would be back bacon in the UK - I think what I wanted is actually called Canadian bacon here, but there was no sign of it on the shelves. And the sausages are - and I swear I'm not making this up - pork sausages flavoured with maple. I couldn't see any that were unflavoured, and I ended up going for the one that seemed the least adventurous. They're also described as breakfast sausages, though I intend to eat them for lunch; please don't tell anyone, as it may be a deportation offense.

Finally - don't expect to see a couple of aisles of assorted beers and wines. Loblaws has a separate little room with wines in (apparently there are a number of Canadian wines - who knew?), but if you want alcohol, you're quite limited as to where you can get it. There's a store called The Beer Store (which sells exactly what you'd think); and LCBO, which seems to sell a variety of beers and wines. And also, luckily for me, a small range of girly alcopops. Yay!