Shopping on Boxing Day

So the day after I got back from Paris I needed to grab some groceries...you know, the essentials...lunch meat, soy milk, orange juice, and some apples. This was the line outside the only grocery store in the city that was open. All the other stores were closed because it was "Boxing Day" (the day after Christmas where everyone boxes up their Christmas decorations).

I had to wait outside because they were only letting so many people in at a time (because the stores here are pretty small). I had to slowly inch my way into the middle of the mob and wait for them to open the doors. They only opened half of the door so there wasn't a mad rush. As they opened the door there was a lot of pushing and shoving until the current of people finally swept me in.

Once inside, the lines were all the way to the back of the store. When you found something you wanted you had to ask the person standing in line to hand it to you. “No, no, that one…no over…yeah!” I saw one man join his friend towards the front of the line. It was funny to see all the people in front of me giving a disapproving nod.

Usually we stock up before a holiday, but I was in Paris for a week so that was not possible. Facing the mob was they only option. I'm in the middle of the mob pictured above.