What goes around..

Revenge:  the action of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.

I don't like revenge, personally.

I think to take part in it makes you no better than the original persecutor.

My belief is to live with the actions of others, learn from it and move on.* 

However...

I have a confession to make to my dear readers.

Sometimes I have vented my spleen**  - but in a creative way.

For example:

I once had a stalker.  Let's call her J. 

What I mean by stalker is someone who infringed my personal space and my home without invitation, tried to find out personal information about me, followed me and would still be doing so if I hadn't taken out an injunction preventing her from continuing to do so.  

Now then.

One day about..12 years ago?... I was in our local supermarket which is exactly 1.3 miles from where we lived.  

I was shopping alone - Man Wonderful and Gorgeous Daughter were at home - and the shop was not too busy.

Suddenly, coming towards me with her trolley was J.

She lived miles away from us at this point (this was after her first warning from the police) - according to Google maps 50.6 miles away; a 1 hour 20 minutes drive.

She came end-to-end with my trolley and said, "You can't stop me from doing my shopping! It's a free country!"

I simply ignored her and continued my shopping.  

As I maneuvered my trolley past her, I glanced down and saw that she had exactly the same things in her trolley that I had. 

Yes.

Mm hmm.

How do I know?

Two large mushrooms, a 4 of Peroni lager - OK anyone might have those things.

Three different fresh herbs and a small packet of yeast - yeah, getting a bit more specific.

A box cheese grater, a 13th birthday card and an 18 pack of toilet paper.

Ok.

So.

I decided to have a little fun.

I went back to the entrance of the shop and in each aisle I picked up a few more items.  My stalker followed and again picked up exactly what I did.

A large cucumber in the veg aisle.

Greek yogurt in the dairy section.

Four prawns at the fish counter.

An extra large packet of sanitary towels.

A tube of KY Jelly.

And a packet of Thrush treatment.

When I got near the checkout she queued at the one next to me.  

Then I moved just as the person before me was paying.  

I joined the stalker's line, just behind her.   

J began to load the conveyor belt, and as she had emptied her trolley and the checkout person was 'beeping' her shopping through, I pulled my trolley out of the line and went back around the store again; putting back what I didn't actually want, leaving her to pack up her 'shopping'.

I hope she enjoyed herself, and I have not seen her at our local supermarket again.

Funny thing, that.

Take care,

Tracey xx

* Obviously if someone is at risk of harm or there is a crime I report it.

**The idiom vent your spleen got its reference from the “spleen”, an organ in the body near the stomach. It was believed in European medicine until 19th century from medieval times that the emotion of anger was caused by the spleen which was source of humours. Therefore, anger could be expelled by venting the spleen.