Price-cutting supermarkets here I come

Read Martin's column every week in the Western Morning News

- Martin Hesp

A NEWSPAPER column can act like a lightning rod, collecting all the static in the atmosphere and channelling it safely or otherwise into one place.

If that is the case, one thing a writer can do is get out and about listening to what's on the minds of other people. And if you reside in an area where you've lived for a long time and you know a lot of people, then a visit to the local supermarket can act like a mini-thunderstorm.

I almost always see people I know when we visit our local supermarkets, and sometimes you can get an idea from them what the latest zeitgeist is. Which brings me to the theme of today's column... on recent visits - and I mean all visits stretching back months - I've met friends or acquaintances who have begun their greeting with something like: "Blimey! Everything's getting so expensive!"

Obviously, we've all heard such moans before - but not every time we go to a supermarket.

It's what happened a couple of days ago when I came across a friend who was standing in Tesco looking stupefied and perplexed. "I just can't believe it," he groaned. "The wife asked me to pick up a load of stuff, and I just can't believe the prices!"