Tuesday 6 February 2007

Architectural Gems No. 1: Netto

It's off to Japan tomorrow and to stop me missing Poynton while I'm away, I thought I would start an Architectural Gems spot, and as you see, my first little gem is our wonderful supermarket Netto. When I first came to the village this supermarket site was owned by a shop called 'Mercury Market'. This had a small cafe, and my friend Mary and I used to have a cup of tea in there between taking the children to school and the post office opening to collect our Family Allowance.

After 'the Merc.' came LoCost which wasn't particularly. One assistant used to refuse to serve certain customers. One old gentleman we used to call Blind Pew was a very rude old man indeed and he was in the habit of whacking people across the shins with his white cane. Whenever Pew got to the till, the assistant used to slam it shut, and say 'Off on my break now' and just leave everyone waiting.

Imagine our delight when Netto opened about fifteen years ago.



Netto is the most wonderful shop. It has four aisles, and between the second and third aisle we have 'Aladin's Cave' which is full of all sorts of miraculous goodies. It is impossible to know what is going to turn up there. Could be wellies, baby clothes, printers, plastecine, light bulbs, pot plants, genuine fake Rolex watches, diamonds, computers, nail varnish, socks, Coty L'Aimant and so on and so on. My latest purchase was Timberland look-alike pale blue walking boots (£150 in Timberland) £9.95 Netto price! Oh, the greengrocer shop next door to Netto belongs to Cheeky Norman.

Some of the food looks a bit dodgy though. I don't like the look of the Armegeddon sausages or the Chenobyl cheese. I have never, ever known Netto to sell tofu though. You have to get that from Glenys's. More about her shop on a later posting.

The reason that Netto can sell it's products so cheaply is that they have hardly any staff and so long queues snake all down the aisles until someone grudgingly comes and opens a till. Also you have to unpack the huge cardboard boxes, which are dumped by the side of the aisle.


Beautiful Netto showing the third aisle and the Aladin's Cave.

I have promised Jane, the check-out lady I'll bring her back something tasteless from Japan. No-one quite does tasteless like the Japanese. I have in mind a Mount Fuji in a snowstorm.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Breathtakingly beautiful. I sincerely hope it's listed? Is it Gaudi or Wren.

You won't see anything like that in Japan.

lorenzothellama said...

How did you get on here Ann? I am still fiddling with the blog as I can't get that bloody photo of Netto's third aisle to show. Help any of you experienced bloggers.

Maalie said...

I've had problems like that aforewards, and they usually come up in the end. I think it maybe something to do with the blog server, because pictures are stored on a different one than what the text is. I can see the picture is there, 'coz the original comes up when you click where it is supposed to be. It says 100% satisfaction guaranteed, well I know all about that.

Good luck in Japan.

lorenzothellama said...

100% satisfaction indeed! I wonder whether the photo is too large? I had intended to ask you to show me how to 'crop' a photo but you were too engrossed with Johnny Wilkinson.

simon said...

enjoy Japan!!!

lorenzothellama said...

I'm sure I'll enjoy Japan. I don't think I will be able to post a blog from here as Jack's computer only speaks Japanese. It's lovely to see Lorenzo the Llama in kanji. Jack and Miki are very well and Allan is delicious. I ate his arm with some tofu.

Lorenzo

Maalie said...

Wow! Are you there already! Don't steal the chestnuts from the patch near the house - the locals won't like it! Also, I challenge you to see a Spot-billed Duck!

Maalie said...

And don't come home without Miki showing you her favourite bird species ;-)

lorenzothellama said...

Had a lovely day with Miki and Allan. Must have held him for at least four hours while Miki did housework and slept. We also took him for a walk to a supermarket but was not as good as Netto. Not seen a spotted beaked duck yet but have seen a Japanese Twite Faced Goose. Miki loves crows now!

lorenzothellama said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tortoiseshell said...

Those double yellow lines on the photo - I parked on them for 2 mins, having just driven up from Wales. K needed something from Netto in a hurry.

This is the first and only time I've ever parked on double yellows. Unfortunately, the nice man from Cheshire Constabulary turned in to Dickens lane and caught me red handed.

I explained that I was "all the way from Wales" and this seemed to do the trick - he just told me to move on.

lorenzothellama said...

Don't mess with our Community Policeman Tortoiseshell. He is a really hard man and he will stamp his foot and wag his finger if he is provoked too much.

Maalie said...

Tortoiseshell, you runcible fellow!

Estelle is teaching in Grenoble a.t.m., At least that's what she says, I bet she's actually shopping in Paris! Sends regards.

I'm feeling happy again with three bookings confirmed (I'm very grumpy when I have no tickets in my document carrier) - Russia, Spain and Chile; also plan to go to France in August and Ireland in July. Just got to find something for March and September now...(unless you can count Arbroath in March).

lorenzothellama said...

Off to Fuji with Jack tomorrow. Keep the comments coming in. Llamas like to know what is going on. Jack has some whiskey with him in case we get thirsty in the mountains.

Unknown said...

I like your blog, too.

Anonymous said...

Who is Debby? I like your bottom,

Maalie said...

I think it's a horrible bottom.

lorenzothellama said...

I think it is a nice bottom too. That's why I went on Debby's blog in the first place!
I have just come back from spending two days with Jack on and around Mt Fuji. We had a lovely time and I will try to do a posting about it, but my instructions on the dashboard are in Japanese so I might get too frustrated if it doesn't do what I want it to do.
We saw two very large, blackish birds of prey circling gracefully around but didn't know what they were, lots of mallard, but the males had blue heads instead of green, tufted duck, cormorants, and a very cute duck with a reddish head. Got photo of it.
We also saw a fair number of kapi kapi girls and one yankie boy.

Maalie said...

I bet you didn't see a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker like what me'n'Jack saw!

lorenzothellama said...

Would you be impressed if I said I had seen a Siberian Ruby Throat, a Japanese White Eye, and Black Browed Reed Warbler and a Yellow Breasted Bunting?

Maalie said...

Errrm.... yes!