OPINION: There we all were. Peacefully going about our days, routine ticking along when all of a sudden like a wet fish to the face, SLAP.
Covid has us all wishing we had a few extra rolls of loo paper in the cupboard. In fact, the day the Covid lockdown hit,we were on our last roll. I'd put off purchasing until we needed a few more things, so slunk into the supermarket feeling like a criminal.
I stood, looking harder at a loo paper section than I ever had, contemplating my choices. Do I buy the regular, jumbo 18 pack of 2ply I usually get, lest I be judged as a paper hoarder on my way to the counter, maybe a smaller pack would look less like a panic buyer and more just like a man doing his normal weekday shop.
Perhaps I could buy a whole heap of other items, and use them as a kind of barrier around the large pack to make it look less conspicuous, like some sort of supermarket Trump. "Believe me I could build a wall, many people are saying it, the best food camouflage wall, to block the huge paper pack."
I decided to go with the grab and run, looking down at the floor and announcing loudly at purchase time "Oh what a time to need toilet paper for my household of 17 people. They'll all be relieved as we had run out." Okay, I didn't say that, but I thought about it.
However, on a subsequent trip across level 4 I was forced into an option I'd never considered in a household of five, glancing across the paper and feeling confident I wouldn't look like a mega pack hoarder I reached the spot where my regular would be to be confronted with bare shelves.
And only the good stuff left. The 3ply. A whole 'nother ply to buy. Not wanting to cause a fuss I threw it in my trolley and took it home.
Game changer. The delighted yells of my children reminding me what a cheapskate I had been "Dad! Whoa, we've got the flash stuff!" They exclaimed as I loaded the shelves in the bathroom.
"Yep," I exclaimed. "A special level 4 treat, because you've been so good." (They didn't have to know I'd been forced to grab it minutes before) Now as NZ makes its way to level 3 we might just stick with our own level 3, at home, level 3ply is a go.
