Day 23 - Hospitals and Travelling

Day 23

Just a short one today as my mum has been in hospital, and i don't have a huge amount of time. But yes, hospitals. Whilst waiting in A&E for about 5 hours, you tend to get thirsty/hungry and unfortunately there didn't seem to be a place for me to get anything to eat that wasn't plastered in plastic. Our options were a coffee machine, a drinks machine (luckily with some cans, but only fizzy drinks) and another vending machine with crisps, chocolate etc. It was annoying because some hospitals do have small cafes, or even something like a costa, but where we were in the hospital we didn't have much choice of what to have, and all was stuck in plastic. Annoying for me, as i was not prepared for the visit obviously, and then had to deal with being tired/ hungry and worried. I did buy a drink and something from the vending machine. Unfortunately I did not want a fizzy drink and then ended up getting orange juice in a plastic bottle because i needed something. Not ideal but not much i could have done about it. I know hospitals have a mass of waste anyway, with the amount of single use plastics they must get through, but it's just annoying that it's the same on the food side of things too.

So my usual grocery shop would have meant I go to one or maybe two big supermarkets to get all of my food from them. However since I am avoiding the supermarkets now, it does mean I have to go from shop to shop to get everything i need which means a lot more travelling around. Fortunately i have a lot of it close by, but it does still mean carrying everything from shop to shop in an attempt to get everything I need. For most, this would not be ideal, especially those with kids or mobility issues. I'm lucky to have a car, but then what is the damage to the environment of having to drive everywhere for my food? I can't decide whether any of it balances out or not really, but travel time definitely is an issue.  I can no longer just pop up the shop for bread/ milk, and it's beginning to really take a toll on my life with spending more time going to get food, than i have to prepare it. It's definitely a problem. Though at the moment i do work long hours, i am doing a full time course outside of work, i have animals to look after at home and obviously a life to try to uphold, so at the moment this is not a great thing to have to spend time doing. Something to consider if you're thinking about doing this!

Anyhow, until next time.

Thanks for reading.