I was surprised to finish work super early yesterday, and even after taking on several extra jobs. I decided to make a Costco run as I was about out of almond milk. Costco is one of the few places where it really makes more sense to take the truck than to bus and Uber since I come back with so many large heavy things.

When I signed the lease, the landlady warned me that the mechanic next door often has so many cars that he has to park them along both sides of the street and that she had a zero tolerance policy for any of his cars parked along the front of the house. If I wanted, she could give me the number for the towing service she uses.

Well, I only have one vehicle and I don’t have guests, so insisting on keeping the street in front of the house clear seemed petty to me. I figured out what parking bay is most easily accessible with my truck and then I went to talk to the mechanic. I told him that as long as that bay door was clear, I wasn’t going to complain about cars in front of the house.

So this scene is super common in front of my house:

Yeah, it’s a huge pain to get the truck out when there’s so many other vehicles around (especially when parked on both sides of the street) because the angles of entry and exit aren’t forgiving, but I have enough room and I’ve never had a moment where I wanted to take the truck out and the middle bay was blocked. In fact, I was walking home the other night and someone was in the process of parking in front of that bay. The driver jumped out and said that he’d only be there a few minutes as he knew he had to keep that bay door clear. He would find another spot for the night. Well, I had no plans to go out with the truck in the near future so I said it was fine if he stayed this one time, and the vehicle was gone by the morning.

It’s little concessions like these that buy peace with neighbours and make it that the very odd time that the mechanic is making so much noise that I can’t hear anything even with the doors and windows shut, I’m comfortable strolling next door to ask how long he thinks he might be without sounding like a harpy.

So at any rate, off I went to Costco yesterday and boy did I make the trip worthwhile. I picked up several things that are better off bought in bulk that I haven’t been able to afford to buy in bulk. Most of the items on my list were on sale as well, so my timing was very good. My only real splurge was for some Asian dumplings I’ve been wanting to try forever, but which are very expensive. Not only were they on sale yesterday, they were being offered as a sample. So I knew I’d get my money’s worth at the sale price, but was reassured that I was smart not to pay full price.

My membership is up at the end of the month and my renewal was automatically tacked onto my purchase even though, in theory, I had another week to renew (I didn’t mind — one less line to stand in!). So this was one of my biggest Costco runs ever. On top of all the discounts I got on sales items, I got an almost $75 (5CAD) discount for paying with my debit card (would have also applied to cash. Those discounts really add up!

Of course, I stopped at the food court on the way out to grab a slice of al pastor pizza for a late dinner. 🙂 I like my pizza at room temperature so by the time I got home after a huge storm, having to take quite the detour as Calle 60 was not moving, greeted Bonita, unpacked everything, filled the fridge, fed Bonita, cuddled with Bonita, and finally sat down to eat, the pizza was at the perfect temperature. 🙂

Oh, and I don’t know if this is a “thing” at other Costcos, but in Mérida, attendants with giant umbrellas will escort you from the store to your vehicle in inclement weather. I rather felt like royalty. 🙂

Getting the truck back into the parking bay is tiring work and I wasn’t up for it once everything was done last night (plus it was dark), so I left it parked on the street as I’ll need to go pay my bills in the next few days and do a supermarket run. Then, she’ll probably be put away for close to two months — I really don’t take her out much!