(Everything but the text following each bullet point was written in Dec 2019. Finished it today. Yes, I’m a procrastinator)
Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it’s weird to be back home…
I left the US in Nov 2008. Been back once since then, staying with a friend in Atlanta for 4 weeks in Oct 2016. Now I’m half way through 8 weeks at my sister’s in the San Francisco East Bay. I didn’t see many things in Atlanta that struck me as unexpectedly different than 2008. Can’t say the same about the Bay Area. Read on for the ones I remember.
⦁ Cup holders on shopping carts
Upon reflection, they seemed essential. Given the number, and ever-changing nature of diets, cleanses, nutritional supplements, exotic new ingredients with claimed super health benefits, just plain staying hydrated, and fashion, companies benefit from catering to their customer’s need to carry water bottles.
⦁ Bar codes on supermarket produce
Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s because there are too many produce varieties for reliable identification on sight by their checkers.
⦁ More sightings of Teslas, electrics, and hybrids than anticipated.
WAY more. WAAAAY more.
⦁ Size and variety of selection for organic, vegan, non-GMO, green, local, free, lite, etc., etc. foods at supermarkets.
Toto and I agreed. We’re not in Kansas anymore.
⦁ ‘Yikes!’ sales tax rate.
10.25%. Does anyone who pays state income taxes believe that California is spending tax dollars wisely?
⦁ Prices of non-organic produce and bread
The only 2 organic products I purchased. Wouldn’t surprise me if their price relative to similar non-organic had little to do with the difference in cost to the farmer or baker.
⦁ Cost of restaurant and Chipotle meals
I got over this fast. It had been 15 years since I lived in California. Between inflation, rising taxes that can’t keep up with government spending, and a minimum wage based on the fantasy that Marx got anything right about economics, it made sense.
⦁ Tip request on debit card pay
Because, of course, being paid way over your market value isn’t enough.
⦁ Prevalence of REI-ish clothes
I fit right in, having learned long ago to buy cold weather clothes from companies that put fashion at the bottom or their list of design priorities. So what if people think, as one friend put it: “You look like you just came off a mountain.” The Recreational Equipment, Inc. Co-op (REI) has been my best source for warm, durable, value priced cold weather clothes since the ’70s.
⦁ Friends and sister want to leave California.
All 5 said they’d leave if it wasn’t for family ties (aging parents with health problems), or they need a 2-3 more years on the job to be fully vested in the pension.