1996 thoughts about cars and groceries

Relevant to the recent exchange on the ABNNF email group about Shaw's and Brighton Mills is this NY Times op-ed classic from 1996 "It Drives Him Crazy" when gas cost $1.30 a gallon. Russell Baker write about cars, shopping, the price of gas, and more.

Sure I'm mad about the price of gasoline, but what I'm really mad about is having to buy the stuff just to go to the grocery.

I'm mad about the grocery having relocated from just around the corner to three miles away in what used to be a cornfield out in the country. And why? Because the grocer needs 15 acres of parking lot to accommodate cars that have to be driven three miles every time you want a bag of grapefruit and a gallon of milk.

I'm mad about physical-fitness cranks always saying, "If you can't even walk six miles to and
from the grocery carrying a bag of grapefruit and a gallon of milk, you ought to join a health club and get in shape."