A trip to the grocery store can be tough at the best of times.

Lately, I've noticed that the produce section is littered with the shredded, ripped and torn carcasses of plastic produce bags. I thought it was just me who had trouble removing the bags from the rollers! Either there are more people with joint problems than I surmised or the industry is not doing a good job of quality control.

It results in an indifferent shrug, when I mention it to the staff.

It's time to be proactive. I've been using cloth bags since the 80's - ahead of my time, aren't I? So, it's not a big stretch to reuse those produce bags.

I have a system. If the bags that I bring home aren't too messy, they go into my cloth bags, ready for another use. Why struggle with trying to rip the bags off the roll, then struggle, yet again, to open them?

It means some pre-planning, but that's something that has been sharply honed in this life that is accompanied by rheumatoid arthritis.