Why shopping locally is a good thing

I always knew that Sunday would be a good day. Got up nice and early to write a blog post, then did a bit of local must-do shopping before hitting the South Melbourne Market to buy whatever.
So, unusually, I snagged a parking spot at the door.
Now, given that I’m somewhat of a bogan … yeah the hair at the back is a definite mullet when it’s not tied into a ponytail. So, I wandered in to the hairdresser and asked if someone would be able to plait it for me.
“No problems,” said a bloke I’d not seen there before. “Come on in, we can do it now.”
I grabbed a seat and the young girl, as she was busily putting a sheet over me, said: “So, how much are we taking off?”
“Sorry,” I said, “but I just asked if someone could plait the crap hangin’ down the back of my neck.”
“OK, too easy,” she said.
She did it in a couple of minutes. I wandered over to pay and the bloke said to me “Nah, on the house. It just took a couple of minutes. Just as long as you do someone a good turn today, that’ll be enough.”
I thanked them both and left with a smile on my face and headed to the stall where I get most of my shampoo/deodorant type stuff, where I bought deodorant and Band-Aids. I was telling the girl who served me about the good turn at the hairdresser.
“That’s great,” she said, “but I’ll do your plait any time you want.” I’m a regular customer and we always chat, but that’s above and beyond.
“You’re on” I said as I wandered off.
I bought some chicken and vegetables, some cheeses, a baguette, had a long chat with Tony, the butcher, (I didn’t buy anything from him, but he still has the time to be nice … he’s at stall 32 and has fantastic produce) and then bought a couple of bottle of Sunbury point from Swords (nine times out of 10 I get a discount of some sort).
For me, it’s hard to believe what I did next … for the first time probably since the seventies, I bought a jumper, what’s more, it’s a red jumper, and a long-sleeved T-shirt.
Shit, I finally own a jumper.