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    I can relate - I too hate bagging under pressure!

    Félicitations! Un grandiose exploit!

    So incredibly relieved that I had a hand in boosting you a notch on the ever-important pyramid of French society... really, what would you do without me? I'm thrilled the bag FINALLY arrived (nearly seven months late) and that you like it. Long like the preppy!

    Oh, my. This post was too funny. I have almost pulled my arms out of their sockets trying to carry all of those damn bags home with me. And I totally refuse to use one of those lame carts with wheels. They really need to make it a little more fashionable and then I might consider it. Why can't someone in this country design one that does not make it look like you are an old lady when you walk down the street with it?

    But, now you have given me an idea. Maybe I should start carrying my ginormous IKEA bag with me to the grocery store? I could get everything and more in one of those things.

    My first comment...... a little nervous.

    Anyhoo, funny thing about those little rolling carts: They're not as useful as they first appear when you have to cross 5 bridges (read-- 5 sets of rickety midieval, tourist-ridden stairs) in order to get home because you naively and foolhardily thought moving to Venice (after having spent 4 glorious years in Ukrops territory!) would be glamorous. Mine (yes, I had an old lady cart) was only used once-- I had to ever so slowly klump, klump, klump my way up the stairs one step at a time, and then hold all my produce in with one hand as the other guided the damn thing as it banged down its way down the other side.

    2. speaking of cereal: I'm going to lunch tomorrow at a restaurant (using that term loosely) on Penn's campus called "cereality". On the menu: you guessed it, all cereal!!! check it out:

    http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/41ac2b6d618ae?in_archive=1

    (Personally, I think Noah Sugarman has a future in financial speculation-- oh, the insight!)

    I would be at Cereality every day. When they started talking about the hot and cold cereal combos I was WITH THEM. They lost me a little on the cereal smoothies, but I'm keeping an open mind...please report back.

    And, yes, Noah, I assume a lot of students like cereal too.

    Cereality: miserable. Quaker Oat Squares with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and dried cherries? All in a zany chinese takeoutesque box? Served by waitstaff in Cereality label PJ's? With curious onlookers pressing thier noses to the "restaurant" window to get a load of the fools that fell for the gimmick that somehow made them think that $3.50 for a bowl (not box!) of cereal was reasonable. all obscene.

    Those plastic bags will probably be disappearing next year, since there is a bill pending at the Assemblée Nationale to ban them. It has an excellent chance of passing ... and the décret d'application shouldn't be too long in coming.

    High time, too.

    L'Amerloque

    That's fascinating, L'Amerloque. In the U.S., the question is always "paper, or plastic?" and I've often wondered why there's no paper choice here...

    Chariots, or granny carts, are all the fashion where I live. There are many 20-somethings walking around with them.

    I've also seen reusable grocery sacks that fold up really small that you can store in your purse...except I forgot what they're called.

    Good luck. Love your blog

    Okay, not to sound like a completely snide Americaine, but perhaps if the French RECYCLED, plastic bags wouldn't be so INCREDIBLY crude, n'est ce pas?

    That being said, I fully support preppy LL Bean totes, complete with monogram. I mean, who wouldn't?

    I love using our caddy and now I'm noticing that it's too small to carry everything or we're buying too much, whateva... post a pic of your kick ass caddy!

    -Aimee

    I grocery shop with my monogramed Bean tote, too, and I had the same psychological problems. Now I carry the bag but put groceries into a basket, and then at the checkout throw everything into the bag, which kills both the plastic bag problem and the paranoia.

    I was a grocery bagger during my high school summers in the states, so I don't mind bagging myself. At least people cant squish my fruit or throw chicken in with produce.

    Only problem is my tote doesn't zip and I'm always paranoid about pick pockets, in this case hungry ones.

    Sorry for the long comment. Nice blog!

    Ugh -- Sorry for the horrible typing above.

    hey im a grocery bagger at Jewel in IL and I just wanted to tell you I agree those bags are crappy!!! They never open or they just fall apart lol!!! Ive always wanted to go to france...M

    at monoprix, you can also buy bags in fabric tissu, which are very solid and much more fashion. you can take it in the métro (cost : 0.80 euros), but you can't put a lot in it (equivalent of 3plastic bags).

    My great-great aunt Charlotte spent much of her visit here (Paris) in 1956 trying to track down the string shopping bags. Oh so chic, traditional, and very French. She finally did and uses and loves those bags to this day (wow- 50 years). First thing I did when I arrived is try to track them down. It is not intuitive - they're called "filet de provisions" and they're sold at hardware stores. They stretch to accomodate the equivalent of 6 Franprix bags, and they come in pretty colors. I try to coordinate with my jacket. They're very sturdy (many bottles of wine!) and because they stretch they relieve much of the pressure of bagging.

    Yes we have those shopping trolleys-bags here in Argentina. My grandmother uses them to buy all her veges. I think most women over 50 use them here with wheels.

    I'm a little late but I just wanted to say that I figured out it was my dry skin that was preventing me from getting those plastic bags to open quickly. I found that if I, um, surreptitiously lick the tips of two fingers before trying to slide open the bag, it works much, much better. Hey, it's not gross if you only get a bit of spit on your OWN bag, right?

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