Supermarket bags

require the attention of a therapist specialising in manual dexterity skills. Such a person could then make a fortune teaching the rest of us how to open them.

Our local supermarket has two different types of "plastic" bags. Our greengrocer also has two different types.  

There must be a reason for this as the greengrocer is very environmentally conscious. He buys local and in season whenever he can. The source of his produce is labelled and you can be certain that if the garlic comes from Mexico it is only because there is no garlic available here. Yes, you can buy strawberries in the middle of winter if you must but they will come from interstate. There will not be many available and they will be expensive. Such strawberries are not likely to be what he considers "best quality".  He will suggest an alternative and much tastier fruit.

And he uses "plastic bags" - or does he? There are bags there, on rollers. You can tear them off and then, if you can open it, you can use it to place your purchase in. These bags are soft and slippery but not the sort of slippery-open sort. Somehow they stay determinedly shut.

I take my own bags of course. I have been doing it for years. I have been doing it ever since they stopped providing outsize paper bags for groceries. They may not have been the most environmentally friendly thing out but our cats loved playing in them. The supermarket "recyclable" pseudo woven plastic bag was not the same. I went over to the lightweight nylon bags which can be washed. They wear out eventually but, taken care of, they do last a long time.

But the other bags you ask? Yes, I do need to use those at times. The person at the check out does not want to pick up badly behaved beans from the floor or chase loose lettuce leaves across the counter. The staff know me well enough that they will take my cucumber and put it on top of the lettuce leaves. They will add a capsicum to the tomatoes after weighing both separately. We understand each other perfectly well.

And they will even on occasion patiently open the "plastic" bag for me as I struggle with it. These bags are made from "potato" they tell me. Edible? No. 

And some things still require something sturdier it would seem. I have not yest worked out what these things are or how the decision is made but are the bags any easier to open? No. They are apparently not "plastic" any more but they continue to be a challenge to open.

I bought some mushrooms yesterday and, wonder of wonders, they came with their very own paper bag. I can recycle that today.