The Fine Art of Choosing Beans

Ms F suffered a leg injury in October, the day before I booked a shopping mission for her which was cancelled. Today she told me the story about her accident and long recovery which was still going on. Ms F felt achy after her physio appointment the day before and asked if I would mind if she was resting in bed while handing over the shopping list. Of course I wouldn't!

Ms F had a very specific list of items from Waitrose. We went through them and discussed alternatives. Ms F wanted some green beans although they couldn't be from Morocco as she finds them too thin and rather flavourless. The alternative to too thin beans was tenderstem broccoli. When in Waitrose I found fine green beans from Morocco, Gambia, Egypt and Kenya. All of them were so fine that wouldn't be fine for Ms F at all. I didn't know whether the thicker round beans from Senegal could be classified as green beans, so I bought the low-risk broccoli.

Ms F had her Waitrose card and vouchers for me. As the coupons were in an app on her phone, I had to take photos of them which worked just fine at the checkout. I was pretty successful securing even the free copy of The Daily Telegraph and a six-pack of Buxton water.

It was nice to see Ms F again, cheerful and positive, despite her being worried about whether she was ever going to walk properly again. I told her to not lose faith and remember that strengthening unused always muscles take time, no matter the age. At the same time, I was hoping for myself to be able to run properly again and stay positive about it. I left Ms F well stocked up with plenty of water, four dinners, snacks and cleaning supplies. I was hoping to see her again soon.