Short Stories

SHOPPING WITH NANA.  JANUARY 2026

It was a major expedition!

SHOPPING WITH NANA JANUARY 2026

An ordinary thing to do, but never that simple with Nana! When Nana grew older this was a weekly event accompanied by which ever family members were available. She would have to be up early to get herself prepared long before we set off to fetch her for her outing. It took her much longer to do the normal everyday getting up and dressed things that we could do in moments without thinking about. She valued her independence and would take the time she needed to do them but never at our expense. So she would be prepared with her coat, hat, shoes, handbag and gloves all laid out ready to put on the minute we arrived. Hair carefully curled and patted into place and clothes freshly laundered and wearing her “slap”.

Slap? Was her way of colouring her fading cheeks with full make up in a style unchanged since the nineteen fifties. Pancake foundation and face powder and bright orangey red lipstick were her signature look. Hence she always looked the same to herself and us. Ever young all the way from then until she passed away just before her ninety fifth birthday. Once the outer wear was on and she was installed in her chariot, a much nicer word than wheelchair any day, and down the garden path we would go. Next was the settling her into her conveyance. A tricky and for her, often painful process no matter how carefully carried out. “It’s no fun getting old but then what can I expect at my age?” I can hear her say even now. Once her seat belt was adjusted I would close the door carefully and step back. That showed me that she looked, as she felt, royal and ready to wave her royal wave to her neighbours as we drove slowly over the bumpy roadway from the back of her row of terraced sixties houses to the front and joined the normal street surface. It often surprised me how many of them would be outside putting their rubbish in bins or doing a quick tidy up of the weeds, dead heading the roses or fetching in their papers or post whenever we drove by. All got a wave specially for them and a smile. Sometimes we would be flagged down to tell her their latest news of a new arrival in the family or the success of a garden addition. All eagerly congratulated on by her fulsome praise and her gloved hand covering theirs over the wound done window sill of the car. A car always specially cleaned for the occasion. It could take a good ten to fifteen minutes to traverse the length of the banjo that made up her street. However, we would eventually manage to travel the half mile to the nearest enclave of supermarkets. (She loved hunting down a bargain and that meant at least two, if not three, supermarkets enjoyed her patronage each trip).

Then we would find her a special trolley or if there were two of us, a separate trolley for her purchases as she rode up and down the aisles selecting her purchases with her keen eye for a “bogof”. You may well ask! A “bogof” to the uninitiated is a buy one get one free offer. One of Nana’s favourite shopping purchases. However, we often found that it was not these that held up our progress and resulted in a very empty trolley. It would be her spotting someone or being spotted by some, seemingly to us, random person. About whom she would promptly fling her arms in an enveloping hug and bestow a big smile and exclaim, “What a lovely surprise!” Before engaging them in a cross examination of the current state of their life, family and prospects. We learnt more about her contacts and previous years working as a school dinner lady this way than we ever did directly from her. It was amazing what people would tell her! Things that seemed intensely private or troubling them were readily given up for her considered opinion or comforting words. You would see them walk off minutes later with a lighter step and wearing a happier visage with which to face their day. Then on we would move to the next aisle.

As for the shop assistants! Well, they were often to be found hanging around trying to look busy but often just waiting for their turn to have a chat. Nothing was ever too much trouble for them to find or fetch for her. Sometimes they had secreted a favourite item at the back of the shelf just so that it wouldn’t be sold out before she had been able to get in to take advantage of that particular special offer. It was rarely that she missed out on anything advertised in advance of her visit like we often did. By the time we left a store to go to the next she would have had a complete update on all their “wonderfully kind staff”, have been informed of anything good that was due to come up for sale that she might be interested in and having paid, left contented that she had carried out her mission. Often accompanied to the exit or our car by the duty manager. So she was happy and ready to carry on with her royal tour.

This would happen at each store and no matter what time of day we had set off or where we went first on the circuitous route. Sometimes we would even be deliberately trying to make it difficult to predict what we would do, but still there would be happy happen stances. They were just a natural part of shopping with Nana. She got us trained to taking life at a slower pace when we were with us and taking time to enjoy the people we would meet. It would then carry on into our own lives. She taught us how to look beyond the surface of encounters and see the needs of others and to try and help them. Even if it was only to drop in a word of comforting sympathy when we knew that nothing would change the circumstances. Or to offer practical support, when appropriate. Encouragement, if self confidence was lacking. Or prayer, aloud or silently, if no way forward suggested was being accepted. It was amazing how often we were quiet witnesses to outwardly “normal”, capable seeming people, with no interest in God, would accept the offer of a prayer for wisdom in their circumstances, given with loving kindness. Sometimes we were also their when they would report back that their previously insurmountable problem had been resolved when she next met up with them and enquired how it had all worked out. Her quietly voiced. “Thank you God for answering our prayer.” Would frequently receive an acknowledging “Amen”. Nothing more needed saying. She would give a cheery, “Lovely to have seen you”, and we would be off on our travels once more.

You see, Nana may have found God for herself late in life. In her sixties but she took God’s word seriously. She knew that he had a plan for her life. She had a mission. She wasn’t retired, even though she was drawing a pension, had a hip replacement and a knee replacement, hearing aids and her sight was failing due to cataracts and Saccular degeneration. She travelled only a few miles from her own front door in her latter years and mainly to go to go shopping for an hour or too or her “social engagements”. Doctor, hospital, optician and deaf clinic or eye clinic appointments. Which followed an amazingly similar meet and greet path as her shopping trips. But she had a telephone that was often engaged for a solid hour at a time and should have been coloured red from its constant use. A well worn path to her back door; widened latterly, when she could no longer walk down it unaided. Her back porch door, opened when she was up and dressed for her day, meant that her kettle could be put on and a seat found for any unexpected neighbour, friend or family member dropping in or needing a chat to sort out a problem with the aid of a good listener.

Nana wasn’t a bible basher, evangelist or great orator. She was an expert. In what? In showing God’s love with kindness, gentleness and a caring heart. She practiced what the good book taught her, with the faith that God would sort out the matters she prayed about because He loved her and had taught her how to love the people He brought her into contact with. She was the daughter of the King and her royal progress is something we, who had the privilege of knowing her, will never forget or cease to be thankful for.