Back from jalan-jalan. It was my last day for buying more groceries. Bought Shi'itake mushrooms, a sans rival cake, and a kilo of fresh shrimp. I went to the center immediately after lunch but the lines were already long. I didn't think there would be atchays but there were lots of them. Some were buying toothbrushes, and I wonder why anyone has to do that on Christmas Eve eve.

Typical atchay tricks at the cashier's line are:

--Someone falls in line with a cart and her companion goes off to take more and more items from the shelves to further fill the cart with.
--Someone puts her eleven-year-old kid in line and then comes back with cartfuls of groceries.
--Someone brings his balikbayan brother along to pay for groceries, adds a lot of unnecessary items to the cart,  and the balikbayan is shocked at the final bill.

You don't have to go to the Coliseum to watch a circus. The circus is right there in every grocery store.