Hello, my name is Mark, and I have a problem...

For those that don't know I am avid fan of Costco, the warehouse chain of stores where you can find high quality goods (such as flat screen TV’s and diamond rings) located next to bulk items (such as a five-gallon tub of mayonnaise and fifty pounds of basmati rice) all for a reasonable bargain. Unfortunately for us, Costco does not have a store here in Switzerland which has been one of the biggest adjustments for me (mostly just the routine part, not so much the buying of fifty rolls of toilet tissue) as it was part our weekend in Minnesota. Every Sunday after church, we would head over to Costco to fill up Alli's car with gas, groceries, and the rest of the items we didn't know we couldn't live without (as well as the free samples).

I constantly find birthday and holiday (sorry, can't say Christmas...wouldn't be p.c.) gifts at the warehouse, as well as gifts for me (of course I need this super-size wheelbarrow, how else am I going to carry things from the front yard to the back yard?); so you could imagine that after two months of no Costco I'd be itching to go out and find one. As I mentioned, the Swiss don't believe in shopping in bulk (yet...I'm working on that) but as luck would have it, the British do. Alli had a business meeting just outside of London yesterday and I decided to tag along so we made a weekend of it. We spent Friday night through Sunday afternoon in London taking in the sights.

On Monday when Alli went off to do real work, I had the luxury of 8 hours to myself where I had the choice of golfing at the site of 2006 World Golf Championships, a day at one of the best spa's outside of London, taking a train back into London to see the Crown Jewels and various other sites, or walk four miles in each direction to go to the greatest store on Earth (4 miles + 4 miles = ? My younger readers can substitute a number for the question mark...school has started, are YOU ready?).

Costco - Watford, A Beacon of Freedom in England

As you can probably guess I chose the latter. You see, I view Costco not only as a unique shopping experience, but sovereign U.S. soil. The longer we are here, the more I miss the USA. I figured Costco would be a great way for me to recharge my American batteries (made in Taiwan) and also provide the opportunity to see if I have been missing any great deals (boy, have I ever!). After walking the four miles to get there, I was excited to see what I could find. Unlike the U.S. stores, this British Costco had a wider range of meat products (in the US they have beef, pork, chicken, fish, and some lamb...in England they have all of the above, plus a lot more lamb...as in a 15 pound leg of lamb, that's a big sheep.), they also carry duck eggs (um, not sure what you make out of duck eggs), a large selection of Indian cuisine, and various other exotic items (biscuits, bangers, puddings, and rarebit).

Aside from the weird British staples, all of the signs were posted in pound sterling rather than US dollars, which required some math on my part (1 pound sterling is roughly equivalent to $1.80 US; so for those that have a test next week...How much in US Dollars would a case of Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc at Costco Wholesale cost if the price in pound sterling is £ 26.99? ........ The answer is it doesn't matter, that's a great deal!). Even though I had my heart set on bringing back the Pro-Form Vibration Platform to help with my tummy firming (at £249.99, I didn't really have space in my carry on, plus you were limited to five only and I needed one for every day of the week, not just Monday through Friday), I did manage to find a couple things. I bought a pair of sunglasses and a pair of umbrellas (the one we have here in Switzerland has a rather unfortunate condition that causes it to function more as a modern art on-a-stick rather than as an umbrella).

I also had lunch at Costco which set me back £ 2.20 for a Coke (with FREE refills, but no ice) and a slice of pepperoni pizza (although I could have had cottage pie, or jacket potatoes with chili and cheese for an equally enticing price. By the way, jacket potatoes is really just a baked or boiled potato with the skin on, split in half lengthwise and topped with either cheese, beans, chili, tuna, or coleslaw). I did run into a minor problem when checking out as the U.S. Costco Member cards aren't recognized by the British Costco machines, which required a manager override to allow acceptance of my turncoat card. The cashier was very excited to see my card but wanted to know where I was from...he asked if I was from Canada (must have been my Minnesota accent), but I responded that no I was in fact an American (he seemed disappointed. I guess Europeans long to meet Canadians, the Real North Americans!). I also had to pay with cash (or the appropriate British equivalent...quid, I think) as they don't take American Express (I should have paid more attention to those Visa ads on TV).

So at the end of the day I felt recharged (both from the bottomless cup of Coke and from spending a couple hours at my favorite store) and as a bonus now have a couple of sweet umbrellas for when it rains (this means our visitors will stay dry too!), and sunglasses for when it doesn't (sorry visitors, you are on your own). I probably will now have a couple months away from Costco, but Christmas will be here soon enough (oh yeah, they were already selling Christmas decorations at Costco) and I will be able to visit as much as I want (as we will be back in Minnesota for a week or so).

Cheers!

* Disclaimer - we are stockholders of Costco...therefore I have to shop here as often as I can so I can make myself rich (at least that's how I think it's supposed to work)