Cathy Le Feuvre

Scan and Shop or maybe not!

I like to try new things, stretch myself, experience the unusual. And, in the absence of something much more exciting at the moment, today I did try something for the first time. Grocery shopping needed doing, and I'd always wondered what the Scan and Shop devices that loads of people people seem to use were all about. The supermarket wasn't that busy so I decided to give it a go.

With no one around to ask, I watched another customer register - swiping in her 'loyalty card' and then picking up the scanner which lit up on a rack. So that was how to do it. Simple.

With no obvious big signs to tell me what to do next or what to expect, I just followed my instinct. After a few false starts I got the hang of the scanner device, which sat neatly in a specially devised cradle at the front of the trolley. I'd always thought that was there to hang my handbag on! The scanning and shopping went well. I felt quite proud of myself, and more importantly I could keep track of what I was spending. Excellent in these economically straightened times.

There were a couple of items which could not scan - loose fruit and so forth - but the little scanner device kindly informed me that these would be scanned at the till. Marvellous.

Trolley loaded, I approached a till. Unloaded all my items, as usual, onto the conveyor belt, and waited. Okay, so I should probably have been more observant at the front of the store by the Scanning Device Storage Unit and what I later discovered was a specially designated Scan and Shop area, but my excitement at trying this 'new' technology was rather overwhelming. I must have missed it.

I waited for my turn at the till. On approaching the very helpful staff member, I explained that I had one of these scanners and wondered what to do next. He wasn't quite sure - he doesn't often do the tills - so he turned to a colleague.

'Oh you can't pay here!' the woman said. 'There's the Scan and Shop area at the front. You have to go there!'

As all my shopping was on the conveyor belt by this time, all neatly ordered as usual for packing - fruit and veg, dried goods, cold stuff that needs going in a cooler bag, I asked the obvious question.

'Could I not just pay for it here?'

The woman at the next till, who by this time had ambled over to my area, was insistent. Absolutely not, my purchases were in the computer and it would all go horribly wrong if I didn't follow through with the system. I'd have been better off asking to alter the Space Time Continuum!

Now, it wasn't that I felt foolish - I was, after all, a Scan and Shop virgin. How was I to know how the system worked? But the woman who delivered the devastating news that I would have to pack up my little trolley again and trudge down to the Scan and Shop special area, obviously took me for a fool. No, a moron. How had I not been born with the knowledge of how to Scan and Shop? Somewhere something had been missing from my education.

Fortunately Michael, my original till person, was terribly apologetic and helped me restack my trolley.

So now I was back at Scan and Shop. First I checked to see what signs were actually up there. Yes, there were warnings displayed, although not prominently, I would say. 

I entered the Scan and Shop area to discover that what I had let myself in for was actually 'self service' payment.  But it wasn't as simple as that. It was self service with a twist! First, my scanning device needed 'priming' as this was my first time as a Scanner and Shopper. Then, of course, there were the loose items which I had not been able to scan - my single lemon, a bunch of bananas and some fresh broccoli.

So I did need assistance, after all. The staff member who helped me was very encouraging. She could, I believe, feel my frustration and pain. Well, actually I told her I thought the system was a bit mad and pointless ....and I quickly exited the store with all my items in a trolley, in no order, no bags packed, feeling rather inept. Apparently the idea is that you pack your bags as you go along! How was one to know? I've been grocery shopping all my adult life and this experience left me feeling like a novice!

How could the excitement of trying something new turn so disastrous? All I had wanted was a little difference in my life.

I darted to my car, where I surreptitiously packed my bags under cover of my boot / trunk. It was while doing this that I realised that there is a fundamental flaw in the system. What was there to stop Scanners and Shoppers popping a few additional items into their trolley without scanning? In my Tesco store it would have been easy to get away with an item of two unpaid for - not much checking was done at all on the number of items I had with me when I departed ever so quickly, head bowed in shame. Not that I would do that of course.... but ..... some might.

At least there were few people in the supermarket at the time to see my anguish and humiliation. Imagine the horror if I tried this for the first time on a Saturday when the shop is heaving with people, kids screaming for sweeties, parents getting hot under the collar with all the stress. They would have hated me in the Scan and Shop payment area, not knowing what I was doing and holding everything up!

So, despite the encouragement of that final assistant who helped me make sense of the Scan and Shop payment system, I have to say I think that I may go back to my usual practice of throwing items randomly  into the trolley and standing in the queue for a till.

NO MORE SCAN AND SHOP FOR ME!

And if I want to keep track of the bill as I go along, perhaps next time I'll just take my handy little old-fashioned calculator !

Liberation Day

May 9th - Liberation Day!

 
Don't know what on earth I'm talking about?

If, like me, your heritage is in the Channel Islands (in my case the beautiful island of Jersey) you WILL be aware of the significance of this day.

On May 9th 1945 a British naval vessel, HMS Beagle, sailed into St Helier harbour in Jersey. The harbourside was thronged with islanders cheering and screaming with delight as they welcomed the British military party on board. 

This was the end of  5 long years for Jersey and the other Channel Islands who, during what later became known as 'The Second World War', were under enemy occupation. The advance party on board the Beagle, Task Force 135, were there to reclaim the Channel Islands. The task force included many Channel Islanders who had been forced to leave their home in 1940 - one of them Capt Hugh Le Brocq - raised the Union Jack over Fort Regent overlooking the harbour. Another flag was flown from the Pomme d'Or Hotel right on the harbour, on the edge of what is now called 'Liberation Square' and where some years ago a poignant statue which encapsulates the spirit of Liberation was erected.

I know - I can hear some of the detractors now. In this Politically Correct Age it might not be appropriate to mention that it was the German Third Reich / Hitler's Nazis who had occupied the islands. It might be similarly frowned upon to mention that in the islands - the only place in the British Isles to be enemy occupied - there are still those who believe they  were sacrificed to the enemy by the British government of the day. 

But Liberation Day is an important day in history and celebrated with pride in the islands. It's a time to remember the sacrifices of those who lived through the five long years of Occupation, and those who lost their lives including those sent to labour camps on mainland Europe never to return. It's a day to remember that Freedom is precious. It's a day to remind ourselves never to take for granted  democracy and the right to free speech. 

It's not about the former enemy or the glorification of war, or the reminder of final success over those who invaded our space. Indeed, these days it's not uncommon to find former German soldiers visiting the Channel Islands around Liberation Day. Some settled back in the islands after a period, and some, of course fee,l connected to the place they spent a few years of their lives. While it is important never to forget the deprivations and even the cruelty of those days under occupying forces, somehow over the many years since the heady excitement heralded by the arrival of HMS Beagle in St Helier, Liberation Day now stands as a day of celebration, reflection,  friendship and loyalty.

If you visit the Channel Islands, the history is part of the present. Across the islands evidence of the war years remain and not just in museums and statues, but in some of the structures - towers, gun emplacement, even walls and other sea defences - dotted across the landscapes. A whole tourism industry is built partly on it, numerous books have been written on the subject and television programmes produced and transmitted.

Today some may not quite understand the significance of May 9th - for many residents today is simply a day off work and school and there's always a danger that  the relevance may be lost. But there are still thousands of people in Jersey and Guernsey who will always remember the significance of May 9th. Many of those who lived through those 5 years are now no longer with us. While May 8th - VE (Victory in Europe) Day now goes unnoticed in the United Kingdom, in the Channel Islands,  generations to come will still have their Liberation Day which will continue to be commemorated, and celebrated.

By the by, in the island of Sark celebrates its Liberation Day on May 10 and in the northern most island of Alderney there was no local population to be liberated because apart from a handful of people, the whole population had evacuated from their homes before the occupiers landed. At the end of the war the population were not returned until December 15th 1945 and today that is the island's national holiday - "Homecoming Day".

For me,  every Liberation Day, I remember my Dad who was one of those who left Jersey in 1940 on one of the last boats off the island. A boy just out of school soon to become a man in RAF uniform who would not see his parents or family or home for 5 years. As with many of those who lived through those days, he spoke little about his experiences but through others - aunts and family members, friends and those who I met as a news reporter and producer for many years at the Jersey Evening Post, Channel Television and BBC Jersey - I have heard many firsthand stories. Hard times and struggles to live day-to-day, brave escapes and attempted escapes across the stretches of water to France and England, banned church gatherings and  secret prayer meetings, lack of food and the peculiar first handling of a fresh orange by a very young child soon after May 9 1945, the anguish of leaving a treasured home and the decisions five years later to return - or not.

On Liberation Day - we remember. And we thank God for continued precious freedom.

Super Thursday

There are benefits to being a bit of an insominac - one gets to listen to some very interesting radio! After BBR Radio 4 departs I often find myself dozing off to BBC World Service with its collection of enticing, exotic and enthralling programming.

Last night, of course, Radio 4 on FM stayed on air for coverage of the UK Elections. The ever present and knowledgeable James Naughtie headed the team of resilient and sleep deprived broadcasters, reporters, producers and presenters across the UK and as usual drew in a number of experts from the political field for a programme that seemed to last forever.

For those who don't know - this wasn't a UK General Election - those who have been awake in the last 12 months will know THAT happened here exactly a year ago. No, this was about Local Elections  - chosing our local councils - and the elections of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly  and Northern Ireland Assembly members. PLUS The AV Referendum. Would we like to have a different system to select our parliamentarians in future? Not 'first past the post' but Alternative Voting.

It was Super Thursday!

So I cast my vote for a local councillor (great choice - 2 candidates!) and put my cross on the grey AV slip. My civic duty done.

In past years as a reporter I might have been covering the elections myself but now I get to vicariously experience other people's reporting of the counting of thousands of ballot papers - long long nights in rooms full of tables with thousands of slips of paper and hundreds of people. I get to listen to the rumours coming out of counting stations when there is yet no news of a result. And I share with experts patiently mulling over every twitch from the counts.

I caught the start of the magnifent Naughtie at around 1am at the time when my World Service fix would normally commence. And I lasted quite a while before dozing. Thereafter I slept and dozed, dozed and slept while Radio 4 played on.

In my sleep it seemed I dreamed that the Lib Dems had been washed away, overwhelmed by a Coalition backwash, while apparently the other half of the team somehow managed to survive a tsunami of rage and disappointment from the nation. In Scotland the SNP rolled slowly towards a majority in the new parliament. I heard little from the Land of My Fathers, (actually the land of My Mother) although perhaps that happened briefly while I dropped off. As for Northern Ireland - they sensibly didn't start counting until today when everyone had woken up.

Can't say that it was scintillating stuff. It's a bit like football commentary. Commentators spend hours before the match expertly predicting what is likely to happen ( 'The SNP are unlikely to get the numbers they need for a straight majority' ..... Radio 4 early on in the marathon ....) and then after the game is over spend many many more hours discussing why what they predicted would happen didn't happen and what that means for the rest of the tournament.

But it helped the long night to pass and you can't help but admire the fortitude of those who ploughed through the wee hours probably wondering if ANYONE was listening.

If you want to experience James Naughtie and friends you have about a week to do so via BBC Listen Again. click here

Health Warning - it's nearly 5 hours long.  Sleep Well!

History in the making

I guess it must be a sign of getting on a bit, but recently I've been reminded that it doesn't take long for 'current affairs' to become 'history' and in particular MY history.

A few weeks ago my 16-year-old nephew, who is studying history, was revising details of the Vietnam War and we talked about the final withdrawal of American troops in April 1975.

Immediately my mind was back in a classroom in Africa, and a 'Current Affairs' class - this was a weekly event in which Mr Jones, headteacher, encouraged us to discuss news and events . It lead to discussions about history and our place in it and this was probably my favourite class at the time -  even at the age of 16 I was already passionate about history and words and had dreams and ambitions to write.

In preparation for the class we were all instructed to bring a cutting from a newspaper and I remember I submitted a piece about troops leaving Vietnam after many years of war. This led to an engaging discussion about the conflict and the possible outcomes. It was happening, right then, and still there was much speculation about how it would all turn out.

When you're a child, 'history' is what happened many many years before, to people with 'olden tymes' clothes and speech. Now, sitting on a couch with my nephew I was back at Imani School in Thika, Kenya, and that hot classroom and it occured to me how quickly current news becomes history!

At A-Levels and university among other things I studied Russia and it's revolution and subsequent years and impact on the world. That too, is now all part of history. We watched the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and then eventually witnessed the unravelling of what had become known as the Cold War! Television brought it right into our living rooms! History changing before our very eyes.

We've recently lived through the most recent Royal Wedding and watching the couple take their vows before God, their families, those in Westminster Abbey and 2 billion television viewers across the world, I was again aware of history in the making. The recent momentous events in Egypt, Libya and across the Arab world were not remote, but very present, in my lounge. Yet somehow, despite the many commentators constantly reminding us that this is 'history in the making',  I still wonder how many of the billions of television viewers who daily watch the news, really understand the significance of what they are witnessing. 

Maybe they too will look back one day and realise 'I lived through that!'

Life rushes by and we all live through momentous times, even if we don't realise it at the time.