This past weekend, B and I had a marathon shopping session. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of shopping...crowds, screeching children and (typically) overheated shops do not bode for an enjoyable experience.But if I hate shopping, B abhores it (as in detests vehemently). Getting him to step foot inside a shop (weekly grocery shopping included) is an effort in itself and I usually do not subject him to the "torture"...or myself to his tortured looks, eye rolling, tutting and general grumpiness. However, there comes a time (every couple of years) when he realises that he is going to have to face his demons...usually around the time his butt starts hanging out of the seat of his worn-out jeans. While he buys everything possible on the internet, clothes shopping by mail order has never been that successful (and I have tried!).
So, we resigned ourselves to a day of hell at the mall (mkone to be precise)...we were up early to (a) get a free parking spot close to the mall entrance and (b) be there as the shops open, before the crowds descend....something both our sets of parents advocated way back in our youth (you know you're turning into your parents when....), and we would scorn them, as at that time (when we were laid back and unphased by crowds...and mainly didn't really have the cash to spend on anything, so going to the shops was pretty much null and void anyway) having a lie-in on a weekend was top priority (to sleep off a hangover and 4 am bedtime ).
Apparently, half of middle England had the same idea as by the time we got there, the free parking was rapidly filling up and the mobbing masses were already migrating up the mile-long walkway that runs from one end of the shops to the other. We were going in with a pre-determined Battle Plan: get in and get out in under 2 hours....with a completely new wardrobe for B, the bulk of the Christmas shopping and a new cocktail dress for the upcoming Christmas parties for me...yeah, right! Six and a half hours later, we dragged our sorry bodies back to the car, arms at least 5 cm longer from carrying the 6 massive bags we'd acquired....but we got almost everything we went there for, including lots of Christmas presies and this dress for me....
It's rare that I find a dress that actually fits without my unmentionables falling out and that falls flatteringly to hide the tum 'n bum. I found a black, silk floaty cardi to go with it too, so all set for the "party season".
B reckons he's not going shopping again until he's 90 though....we'll see!
No comments:
Post a Comment