I shopped

Having managed to drag myself out of bed on Saturday morning, I found myself walking across the footbridge into Glasgow at some ungodly hour (anything before 10am on a Saturday is illegal, in my world).

My plan of action was to head up to Buchanan Galleries and work my way back down to the train station. However before any shopping could be had there was a first stop required, caffeine!

As I mentioned I was also planning on visiting the Apple Store so I headed up Buchanan Street, ordered my Tall Skinny Latte (which is a small milky coffee made with skimmed milk), and indulged in a breakfast panini of sausage, egg and bean. Yum. I took my food and drink over to the a seat at the window and spent a little time people watching.

It is a great hobby. The best entertainment was to be had watching the scruffy Big Issue seller try to chat up passersby, he obviously had a good line in compliments with many a woman turning their head to smile him a thank you. He cheered me up so much I actually gave bought a copy from him later on.

Appropriately caffeinated I headed across the street to the Apple Store. It is rather bright and shiny with ohh so many lovely toys and gadgets on show. I had a little play with some iPod speakers, marvelled at just how gorgeous the screen on the iMac looks and then I left. Without purchasing a thing.

I wasn’t that surprised to be honest. Whilst I could’ve bought a cover for my iPhone, or a cable, or a… well a myriad of cheap items were on offer but I truly didn’t need any of them, and the one thing I desired I couldn’t afford. Yes, I did surprise myself a little.

Which left the only mission of the day. To buy some shirts. God I hate shopping for clothes. I tried a few shops as I wandered past, several of which I knew were out of my price range as soon as I entered – “Ohh, 3 shirts for only £120.. that’s… yeah… thanks.. bye!” – and several of which had nothing that caught my eye.

I’m the first to admit I’m fussy, and that I know what I like but what is with the shirt manufacturers today? You can have either a plain solid colour shirt, a shirt that looks like it was designed by a someone after a HEAVY night out, or something that I could happily picture my father in but.. hey I’m only 34.

I did manage to get a nice shirt in Next, although I had to try on two sizes and ended up with an XXL (that’s another thing, slim fit shirts are great for the slim, but why make them in larger sizes?). So, feeling like a complete fat bastard I finally ended up, by way of another three shops which all illicited HOW MUCH? moments (is £95 too much for 1 shirt? hahahaha), in my preferred cheap shirt emporium, Primark. That’s “prymark” not “premark”.

Now a quick question for those still reading. When is 17″ not 17″? When it’s 17.5″!! Grrrrr.

I know my weight fluctuates but all my other shirts are either 17″ or 16.5″ collar size, so as I stood there in the changing room, pondering how I’d managed to put on half a stone in a morning (damn you, breakfast panini!!), I tried to figure out how two shirts, each by the same manufacturer and with the same sizing label stuck on them, could be different sizes! Yes I know the cut of the cloth makes a difference but these are even labelled as the same style of shirt. GAHH!!!!!

I gave up at that point, throwing a few shirts into my basket and spent the rest of my journey home chilling out. Still, I won’t have to go through that for another few months. Ohhh wait… Christmas… Balls.