Shopping List Code

I can't shop very well at all without a list.

If I forget to take the list with me, I've been known to pause as soon as I enter the supermarket, stare, and every item I pick up I consider for far too long. Sometimes going back to things time and time again.

My memory suddenly gets quite bad in supermarkets and I frequently forget what i'm looking for. (Mind you, two moaning kids in a trolley doesn't help)

I'm also one of those people who would never abandon their shopping list in the trolley when they're finished. I just get this thought - what if someone picks it up? I don't want them to know what i'm buying - so I always take my list home and bin it. Daddy thinks it's all a bit ridiculous, but I have my reasons.

I really don't like the idea of some stranger eyeing up my personal shopping list and often walk round the shop with it folded in my hand, only unfolding it to take a quick glimpse. For this reason I think it's a good idea to come up with some shopping list abbreviations. You know the sort...

• MLK, BTTR, NUGS, CHSE, NAPS, K ROLL

That gives you milk, butter, chicken nuggets, cheese, nappies and kitchen roll.

It just feels less personal if someone were to get an eyeful of your list as you picked a product off the shelf. They wont have time in those few seconds to decipher the whole list, after all, some people can be so nosy.