Good morning, everyone and welcome to happy Friday (I'm happy, anyway!)
It's a fine morning, not wet or anything and it doesn't feel too chilly either. Yesterday started off the same although by around four it was raining quite hard.
Yesterday turned out quite busy in the end.
It started off with my booked swim at the gym at seven. It was great - there were around seven people in the pool at busiest and by the time I'd done my half hour, there were just three of us. I decided to work quite hard so was buzzing by the time I got out - I enjoyed it so much!
Then it was home for a coffee, a hot shower and hair wash and then back into town.
I parked in the same car park (because it's free) and walked on into town where I picked up my prescription and then set off on a bit of a shop trawl.
Everyone I was was wearing face covering, everyone was smiley and very polite with lots of 'after you'/'no, after you' exchanges which made for a very pleasant time while walking around.
However, and this surprised me very much indeed, the service in the shops was appalling. Well, maybe not as bad as that but it's usually really good and yesterday . . .
In Boots, picking up my prescription, I and another person had to wait for ages (well, a good ten minutes) while the person who was at the counter dithered around doing other stuff and having what looked like chats to the others in the pharmacy area.
Then I popped into M&S, known for good service, and they had two people on the relevant tills and a great queue of people waiting to pay (including me). They also seemed really slow and it took a long time.
We have a Debenhams in town and I like it although I rarely use it (which, I gather, is a problem Debenhams is having generally) as it never seems to have quite what I'm looking for. However, there was a clothes sale on so I went in and got lucky with a very pretty dress, reduced from sixty something pounds to just over twenty which seems very good value. The ladies clothing floor was quite busy and people had lots of garments over their arms but there was just one (one!!! In that big area) paying desk and, again, slow service and long queues. It was quite hard to find and they didn't seem to have many assistants around to ask either.
To be fair, everyone was most courteous and it wasn't their fault there weren't many of them and, also to be fair, the service in The White Company and on Copenhagen was as good as it always is.
What did I buy. Well, more than I should have, probably.
In M&S I got a couple of bras in the next cup size down (woo hoo!!!)
In Debenhams, I bought that dress.
In The White Company I treated myself to some of their wickedly expensive but absolutely lovely room sprays. A little goes a long way so it's not quite as spendthrift as it sounds and they are so gorgeous.
And in Copenhagen I bought (don't laugh) a carrot sharpener!
After all that I decided to be very, very well behaved and not go to Lakeland! Also, I was getting tired by then.
Once home, I had lunch and then, rather reluctantly, headed off to the garage. Oh, the mess!! It was a case of getting the bin and recycling box round to the back and just taking one thing at a time. So I did and I reckon I got well over half of it sorted. There are some big boxes that need cutting up for the cardboard sack and some very old jamjars that need to go into the glass recycling as well as some wicker baskets that Beth can use so I'll take them round next week. I found a few treasures. Either Beth or Dave's old teddy - no way he's going in the bin - and some Clothkits - grey corduroy trousers, size 12/14 so they will probably work fine for me and a pretty white blouse age 5 - 6 so no idea how I can use that but no way is it getting chucked, not Clothkits. Maybe Beth can sell it on eBay.
I'd like to have properly finished but got weary of making decisions and fed up of the dust so I'll carry on next week. Really, there's not a lot left to do now and Kevin will be able to see clearly what I need taking and disposing of.
Then I will get the units and Beth and I can put them together.
And I will have a tidy garage, probably for the first time in my life. LOL
Today is much easier.
I was booked for a swim at seven but, after four organised blocks of exercise Monday through to Thursday and I did push things more in yesterday's swim, I'm feeling a bit achey this morning so I cancelled that and will just do the 'homework' Lindsey has set me to do.
I have to tidy up for the cleaners, pack for the weekend and Chris is coming round for a chat later on this morning.
Then I'm off to Dad's for the weekend.
As always, I may or may not post over the weekend but I'll be back on Monday anyway.
Stay warm, safe and happy. xx
I feel the same about Debenhams - they never quite have what I want and M&S is heading that way too.
ReplyDeleteWell done on clearing out the garage. That will be my next project as I'd like to be able to move all the Christmas decorations out there and free up space in the understairs cupboard.
Hope you have a lovely time with your Dad xx
Yes, they do, sadly. Maybe they will see sense and go back to the old staples that used to sell so well. To be fair, they seem to have a wider range of unwired bras now, but I really had to hunt to get a few in the size I need - I suppose it's a 'popular' size.
DeleteMaybe M&S online would reap better rewards? Now one is not allowed to try on, it seems the easier option.
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M&S is very disappointing now I think, they seem to have lost their way. I got the impression they were trying to bring in young women, with a trendy hip style of new clothes ranges, which I thought were just weird (but then I'm not young or hip and don't really care about being trendy!). The trouble is, most young women wouldn't even think of shopping for clothes in M&S, Topshop and the like is more their thing, I guess. Enjoy your weekend with Dad xx
ReplyDeleteTheir basics are still good, I think, but they don't seem to be focusing on that. Trendy is all very well but, as you say, there are loads more shops that are trendy.
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I haven't been into town to do any shopping since March but more often than not I wouldn't be able to find what I wanted anyway, needing to resort to online shopping. I'm also becoming less tolerant of poor customer service.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend. X
I think it's a fine line for shops at the moment and some don't seem to be reacting well.
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I haven't really done any clothes shopping as I am trying to wear things out. I don't even do any browsing anymore, it is in and out as quickly as is possible. We have lots of anti maskers here in my province and I really feel for those workers who are only doing their jobs. People here are so rude, I have been called names by people for wearing a mask and following the arrows. I am so glad that even though the waits you endured were long, people were still very polite.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I really can't understand why people are so anti masks. I'm usually reasonably good at seeing another point of view but it's hardly the end of the world to cover your nose and mouth for a short time. Why are people so anti, I wonder?
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I happen to shop in Sainsbury's on Friday afternoon before the bank holiday. Bad move! It was sooo busy but the worst were the members of staff, so many of them with their huge trolleys picking online shopping. Now, I realise they have to do their job and on the whole they are good and mindful but there were also two men in suits wandering round, talking nine to the dozen, the only members of staff unmasked, checking stock etc. One of them had a notice pinned to his tie with the 2m distance request. I got so fed up with trying to avoid them I said to him that "may I remind you to take heed of the advice you have pinned to your chest?" He gave me a long hard look and eventually went: "Oh, yesss, sorry!" when the penny dropped. I moved on and came across them again in another aisle by which time the notice had disappeared!!! LOL
ReplyDeleteYes, M&S can be quite difficult too, we have a large out of town one, with only one pay point, holding three cashiers. But, why oh why do they also have to deal with returns as there seem to be as many customers returning items as there are people waiting to pay. The food hall is fine but the rest of the store not at all well organised. I know what size and type of bra now so order online and collect from the store.
Enjoy your weekend with your Dad and hope the weather stays fine for you.
People just don't like to be told what to do when they can't or won't see the benefit. I'm not anti mask at all but it's really difficult, because of the aircon cooled air and temperature in food stores I'm steaming up all the time and walking around in a permanent fog and find myself gasping for breath until it all equalises about half way through the shop and my breathing relaxes too.
I guess it was the same with wearing seat belts in cars. People made quite a fuss about that at the time.
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