Thursday, October 09, 2008

Today's little attack of the clumsies

I used the self-serve checkout at ASDA today, which always gets me unreasonably excited! I had the tank with me (our affectionate name for Zachary's big pushchair, which, I discovered today, won't fit through our patio doors) and was planning to just pack my shopping away in the under section to save on bags. Got to the third item merrily skipping bagging, but had to wait for assistance and was advised that it would carry on doing this every three items and it would be easier for me to stack everything on the carrier bag shelf and then pack into the pushchair once I've paid for it all.

Thinking this was a bit of a waste of time (although noone behind me in the queue fortunately - for several reasons) I piled everything onto the shelf, was choosing my method of payment when heard a quiet thud behind me. Looked round to see broken bottle of balsamic vinegar and a little sea of black liquid slowly seeping towards my trousers. Whooooops! Fortunately was not charged for that and the staff very kindly got me a replacement.

On the John Lewis front, I've now had confirmed to me (not from John Lewis themselves though) that although they can't heat up my pot of food, they should be able to offer me a bowl of hot water that i can warm the pot with - so I need to make sure I take food that can be eaten cold or at least hasn't been frozen and doesn't need to be heated to piping hot. Would have been nice if the staff there had suggested this themselves though...

Finally, also managed to get a replacement pair of trainery-type shoes today. Spent an unfruitful time in the Westfield Centre in Derby yesterday looking at shoes and tutting at the prices (£45??) before leaving without any. I sent L a text message from the Westfield Centre in disgust at the time saying "Am I behind the times? ...[general complain about prices]" I think if I'm using phrases like "behind the times" that pretty much speaks for itself.

Resigned myself to the fact that in the shoe shops I like I'm not going to get anything cheaper and bought some today - a lovely purple! I'm very much a Clarks and Jones girl - a product of my childhood. There are some things you can't skimp on and shoes and bread (unless it's for bacon sandwiches in which case only a plastic loaf will do as my husband has taught me) are two of those things. My mum was always very careful to make sure my sister and I had good shoes and we never complained at going into Clarks and using the electric foot-measuring device! The only slightly disappointing thing was that my foot was such a wide fitting that I only ever had a choice of about 2 styles of shoe. Ever. And they were both dull.

Had another nasty price shock today in Clarks looking at baby shoes - now I have heard mums complaining about prices before so I was non-plussed by the £20 price tag I saw on some, but I was quite surprised to see a little pair of boots (Clarks claiming that the ankle supports help children in their first few months of walking) for £34!! Almost as much as my shoes...mind you they were Goretex so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.

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