Back to school shopping lycée style

In école primaire and collège you get a grand unified list of what you need for school.

This means a long list of various exercise books with small squares, large squares (inexplicably the large squares and smaller than the small squares - Gwilym did explain why but he lost me...) of size 32cm by 24 cm or A4, covered in various colours together with coloured pencils, coloured felt-pens, coloured crayons, coloured this, that and the other., rubbers, tipp-ex, pritt-stick, scissors (round-end !), compass, protractors, rulers long, short, rounded and flat, pencil case for pens and pencils, pencil case for felt-pens and coloured pencils, partridge in pear-tree.

In lycée it's different. Bit by bit, subject by subject, teacher by teacher and class by class the kids are told what they'll need to get before next class. This means a daily list.

Todays' was blanco (tipp-ex), four-colour pen, A3 paper folded (small squares), rubber, pencil, document folder and an old shirt.

I confess that I quite like shopping for stationery this way.

When you have the huge list you either have to sort it all (4 exercise books 32x24 large squares, 6 exercise books 32x24 small squares, 3 exercise books A4 small squares, 7 exercise books A4 large squares) and risk getting the wrong exercise books for something.

Or you go back and fore, back and fore, back and fore with all the other parents,ebbing and flowing round the aisles like a bloom of jellyfish as the tide comes in round the rocks.

This way you go back and fore to the shop, but each visit is a short, sharp commando raid.
Enter shop !
Locate target !
Acquire target !
Pay !
Exit shop !

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