Carrier Bag Envy

Birthday present for Batty delivered. Result; even better than expected. Not many people get their birthday surprise spoiled by a national newspaper. But then I've never been asked to tell a national newspaper what gift I've got any of my bezzie mates for their birthdays either. And not that many of the bezzie mates have ever bought ME flowers on THEIR birthday to say thank you for their present. All of those things have happened in the last week.

I was secretly hoping to receive for some flowers, not that it's a regular occurrence (although I should say that my husband is rather good in the flower department), but I didn't think I could really put the purchasing of flowers down on the "essentials" list. I was hoping for them so that I could photograph them to use them for my handmade birthday cards. Now I can. And, as usual, they're not the usual sort of flowers that one would photograph for cards. Which usually means that they'll turn out weirdly better than expected.

I collected the two Battys from the train station after their marathon sale busting shopping spree. Of course, as they bundled their many bags into the car, they were begging for forgiveness. I must be honest I did feel a pang of jealousy at all the lovely bags, despite not knowing their contents. The boots (the main reason for the trip) were placed on the holy feet before I'd even pulled off. As I was told of the wondrous bargains (and some of them really were wondrous) I must admit that in order to suppress the envy I smothered it with smugness. I don't need any of that stuff, I didn't have to go out all day slip sliding around our Capital spending money I don't have on stuff I don't really want.

My fabulous friend I talked of yesterday told me that she doesn't like the sales because the retailers don't treat the items with nearly as much respect as they do when the items are full price. That's a really good point, isn't it, actually? All the reduced stuff is chucked in tote bins, thrown on rails. But hey, if some one's offering you the chance to buy something you've been after for ages at a really reduced price ... It's just a shame that they have to present that way. Maybe it's some psychological trick to make us feel like we are at a jumble sale and more likely to part with our hard earned cash?

So that's the key, really, isn't it? It's only a bargain if you really want/need it in the first place. The sales are wonderful if you're going for something or things in particular. Batty #2 bought dramatically reduced trainers for her kids because they needed trainers; the other ones were getting too small = bargain. Batty #1 had been eyeing up these fabulous boots for 9 months at least; craved them, saved for them; got 60% off the price = bargain. There's a lot to be said for the sales and who on earth am I to say don't go? The truth is, in this year of evaluation (which is kind of how I'm looking at it) that I might take the opportunity to decide what I might buy in the sales next year, if anything.