天氣預報提到，中秋節前後，秋老虎出沒，白天最高氣溫可達 36 度，早晚較涼，但是我個人覺得早晚也是一樣悶熱，彷彿夏天一般，完全沒有秋高氣爽的感覺，更讓人鬱悶的是，假期結束了，大家都歸位了，該上學的上學，該上班的上班，躺平的繼續躺平，不過，該面對的還是要面對。
下班後，我閒晃到我家附近的賣場覓食，各式中秋節促銷活動的掛報還未拆掉，但是假期已經結束，賣場工作人員忙著調整櫃位，上架新促銷商品，並撤掉上期促銷商品，哇！我注意到有買一送一的商品，待我仔細看看，哈！原來是應節商品蛋黃酥及綠豆椪，九顆包裝的蛋黃酥一盒四百六十元台幣，九顆包裝的綠豆椪一盒三百五十元台幣，現在買一送一，好像有點划算，但是，現在不少人家中收到的各式中秋糕餅，可能都還沒消化完，而這類應景糕餅，偶爾吃吃還可以，常吃不但會膩，腸胃可能還受不了，我有些心動，但是，最後還是忍住不買。
在閒逛中，發現賣場還有不少買一送一的商品，如果本來就有購買需求，而且商品的保存期限足夠長，這個優惠真的幫助很大，我其實還滿想買水餃和蔥油餅的，它們只要放到冷凍庫，可以保存一段時間，但是問題是，我的冰箱冷凍庫早已塞滿食材了，看來也只好下次再買了，只是不知道下次是否還有買一送一的活動，逛了一圈之後，只好帶著一些可以直接吃的熟食及飲料回家。
唉！前幾天還到處都是月餅、烤肉、柚子與各種熱鬧好玩的活動，大街小巷都充滿了過節的氣氛，只要打開社群網站，更是隨處可見朋友們烤肉、聚餐、賞月或出遊的照片，讓人忍不住覺得，好像全世界的人都在過節，然而，曲終人散，現在一切回復正常，雖然還有一些小確幸，這種反差，還真是讓人鬱悶，或許，節日之所以讓人期待，正是因為它不是每天都有。
According to the weather forecast, the so-called “autumn tiger” usually shows up around the Mid-Autumn Festival. The daytime high can still reach 36°C, although it’s supposed to be cooler in the early morning and at night. Personally, though, I don’t really feel much of a difference. It still feels hot and humid even in the morning and evening, almost like summer is still hanging around. There’s definitely no cool, crisp autumn weather yet, which makes me feel even more depressed. What makes it worse is that the holiday is already over, and everyone is back to their normal routines. Students are back at school, office workers are back at work, and people who enjoy doing absolutely nothing are back to doing absolutely nothing. Well, no matter what, we still have to face reality.
After work, I wandered over to a supermarket near my home to look for something to eat. Some of the signs and banners for the Mid-Autumn Festival promotions were still hanging around, but the holiday was already over. The supermarket staff were busy rearranging the shelves, putting out new promotional products, and taking away the items from the previous promotion. Then, wow! I noticed a “Buy One, Get One Free” deal. When I took a closer look, I realized that the products were actually traditional Mid-Autumn pastries—salted egg yolk pastries and mung bean pastries. A box of nine salted egg yolk pastries normally costs NT$460, while a box of nine mung bean pastries costs NT$350. With the buy-one-get-one-free deal, they actually seemed like a pretty good bargain. But then again, a lot of people probably still have all kinds of Mid-Autumn pastries sitting at home that they haven’t finished yet. These traditional pastries are nice once in a while, but if you eat too many of them, you can easily get tired of them, and your stomach might not be too happy either. I was honestly a little tempted, but in the end, I managed to resist the temptation and didn’t buy any.
As I continued walking around the supermarket, I noticed quite a few other buy-one-get-one-free deals. If it’s something you were already planning to buy, and it has a reasonably long shelf life, this kind of promotion can be a really good deal. I was actually pretty tempted to buy some frozen dumplings and scallion pancakes. Since they can be kept in the freezer for quite a while, they would be perfect for stocking up when there’s a good deal. But then I remembered that my freezer is already packed with food. So, I guess I’ll have to wait until next time. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the same products will be on sale next time. After walking around the supermarket for a while, I eventually gave up on the idea of buying anything that needed to be stored and just took home some ready-to-eat food and drinks instead.
Sigh. Just a few days ago, everywhere was full of mooncakes, barbecue parties, pomelos, and all kinds of fun and festive activities. The streets were filled with the atmosphere of the holiday. If you opened social media, you could see photos of friends having barbecues, getting together for meals, enjoying the moon, or going on short trips. It almost felt like the whole world was celebrating the holiday. But just like that, the party is over and everyone has gone home. Everything is back to normal now. There are still a few little things to look forward to, but this sudden change from excitement back to ordinary life is honestly a little depressing. Maybe that’s exactly why we look forward to festivals in the first place. They don’t happen every day, and that’s what makes them special.