Anyway, that was yesterday. Today, I set off bright and early to do the weekend grocery shop. I was particularly excited as I would not only be going to Lidl (always a thrill) but, for the first time, to the organic shop at Benediktbeuern abbey (with real nuns, a herb garden and twin onion towers). Last night I had found a flyer advertising all manner of organic and vegetarian delights, which I spent some time perusing. I am a sucker for things like this. But what really whetted my appetite was the promise of a free soup tureen for any purchase made at the store. At least that is what I thought. The photo showed a burnished orange, pumpkin-shaped tureen, brimming with steaming pumpkin soup. The blurb beneath read something like - "Fancy some pumpkin soup this week? Free pot included!" How could I resist?
When I arrived there it was hard to park - the shop is at the end of one of those narrow, one-way streets, which means if you don't find a space you have no choice but to reverse all the way back, watched by nuns, gardeners, tourists and whoever else happens to be hanging around. This task accomplished, and sweating in the autumn sun, I made my way into the shop. It didn't really look that enticing. I wandered around for a while, picking things up and putting them back again, having little discussions with myself like "do we really need organic buckwheat cookies with Peruvian carob flakes ? - no" and observing my wholesome-looking, earthy fellow shoppers out of the corner of my eye. Nowhere could I see mention of the soup tureen. I didn't want to ask unless completely necessary, so I shoved a few things into my basket, had one last look around, then went to pay. As luck would have it, the aforementioned flyer was lying at the cash desk, so I only had to point to it and ask about the special offer. The gnome-like sales assistant started giggling, as did the couple of people in the queue behind me. "There is no special offer, madam!" - stupidly, I persisted - "but it says here that...." Turns out that it was a German play on words/ad slogan thing, meaning that if you buy a pumpkin, you can use the shell as a tureen and don't need a normal one. How witty and clever and cutting-edge. Not that I'm bitter, of course. "Have you been in Germany long?" asked the woman behind me. "Just arrived actually!" I replied blithely, sweeping my purchases into my non-organic plastic bag and making for the door. Oh well. Hopefully I've given her and her cronies something to cackle about over their nun-brewed beer this evening.
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