If it looks like a bag....

You know the saying - if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is inevitably a duck.

Today I discovered that my trusty indestructible hessian Asda Tickled Pink bag is not all it seems.  It is a good size, with two handles for carrying, and so it is perfect for carrying home a couple of after-work purchases from Poundland.

Shopping in Poundland was always fraught with peril, unless you went in between 8.00-8.30 am when it could be guaranteed to be a bit quieter.  If there are three tills in the shop, you are guaranteed that only one of these would ever be staffed. Queues and pound shops go together like me and cheese and onion crisps.

So when Poundland recently introduced self-checkouts, I was filled with a sense of impending doom. No longer would any till be staffed, and only one staff member would be around to enter their codes as and when required.  Which turns out to be frequently.

Self-checkouts can be a good idea if you have just a couple of purchases and want to just scan and go, rather than stand in a long queue.  Many stores offer both options, but for Poundland to only offer the self-checkout option is a bad idea.  Not everyone can cope with these temperamental pieces of technology.  Even those experienced in the ways of the self-checkout, like myself, it can be a very tiresome and time-consuming experience.

Anyway back to my trip tonight.  Before I could even scan my first item, a message appears on the screen - carried over from the previous shopper - and the assistant has to enter her code.  On we go. Oh wait - it's another message.  Bag not recognised in bagging area.  Even though I declared at the beginning of my transaction that I had my own bag, it's not recognised.  That item in the bagging area is none other than the aforementioned trusty indestructible hessian Asda Tickled Pink bag.  It's a bag. Everything about it screams 'bag', the sheer bag-liciousness of it, but not it seems in Poundland. Please wait for an assistant....

"It's a bag" I say.  I try to inject some weary humour: "It was a bag the last time I looked".

On with the transaction.  Two items scanned, and I'm ready to pay.

Error message on screen.  "Weight of items not recognised".

F***!

Please wait for an assistant......!

Finally, after what feels like half an hour, the machine accepts my cash and the transaction is over.

I don't think I'll be visiting Poundland as much as I used to.....

In praise of: Steven Brown Art

The image of the famous Highland cow is known worldwide as a symbol of Scotland and Scottish tourism - it pops up everywhere from postcards to other souvenirs and of course soft toys. In case you're unfamiliar with what it looks like, here's a picture of a Highland cow:

By the way, although I've never seen one in its natural habitat, I have seen them at the Royal Highland Show (the famous Scottish agricultural show which takes place at Ingliston near Edinburgh) and they are mighty fine specimens!

Anyway, what do you get if you combine Highland cows with the colourful imagination of Ayrshire artist Steven Brown?  Answer: the McCoos! ("Coo" is a Scottish word for a cow, in case you didn't know)l. 

In recent months the colourful art of Steven Brown has crept into our consciousness here in Scotland, and there is now even an advert on Scottish TV.  Everyone who knows me knows how much I love everything cow-related so it was inevitable that I would invest in some purchases from the Steven Brown Art shop in Newmarket Street in Ayr when I visited last week.  Yesterday I bought a couple of frames for my prints so they can finally go up on the living room wall at EuropeCrazy HQ.  Meet Lizzie McCoo and Arran and Isla McCoo (love the way that every one of Mr Brown's creations has its own name!)

At this point I must throw in a disclaimer here: OTHER ANIMALS ARE AVAILABLE.  So if you're not really a fan of all things bovine, there is something for everyone at Steven Brown Art, from lions to penguins, chimps to deer, dogs and even celebrity icons like Marilyn Monroe and Amy Winehouse.

Steven brings a lot of colour into our lives in very dark times, so his colourful art deserves to be celebrated and I hope it reaches a much wider audience.  Check out https://www.stevenbrownart.co.uk/ for his considerable body of work to date. 

Here's a little video from YouTube as well, where Steven describes his work and how his business has grown over the past year.  

Staying the same, and shopping till I drop

Not much to report on this week's Slimming World update.  I decided to take a week out of counting and tracking for a couple of reasons, I've been feeling a bit stressed and low lately, so I thought I'd take a little break from the dieting over the past week.

On Friday when I did my weigh-in, I expected to have gained weight but in fact I had stayed the same this week.  Very happy about this as I did have a few treats including a delicious Indian meal at the weekend with faithful travelling companion, my yummy home-made macaroni cheese and 'real' chips on my day off on Tuesday, and also a lunchtime trip to the local chippy for fritters on Thursday!!

However it is time to get back on the plan from today onwards, I have a couple of mini-goals I'd like to reach in over the next couple of months and the way things are going, these would seem to be achievable.

In other news, it had been a long, long time since I had a 'retail therapy day'.  Clothes shopping used to be fun, but as the weight piled on, stone by stone, it became a depressing chore.  Having lost 6lbs in recent weeks though, I decided to have a clothes shopping day yesterday.  It turned out to be a very pleasant experience and I bought some nice new clothes for the first time in ages, including this nice blouse from Peacocks.

All in all, a very good day, and more motivation to keep on going with the weight loss plan.

Still no news to report on our spring holiday: despite having a definite plan in place, there are still a number of uncertainties around and it may well be that we go for something different after all. Which gives me the perfect excuse for more holiday research!

Thursday night: the food shopping trip

As a follow-up to my previous post, there was one outstanding task which I had not been able to deal with since my mum passed away: the Thursday night food shopping for the week ahead.  Over the past year and 4 months, I went food shopping in the mornings, at lunchtime, at weekends - anything but go back to that weekly routine, because it was something we did together, for many, many years, and I couldn't face doing it on my own.

It is quite strange really, as I've had to come to terms with much, much bigger stuff over the past year which I've dealt with whilst adjusting to the 'new normal' of living on my own.  Yet sometimes the smallest, most insignificant things are often the hardest to achieve.

It was only with the change in my working pattern that I had to re-examine my weekly routines and so I decided that it was time to return to Morrisons on Thursday night.  It was strange, but yet somehow familiar and reassuring, and I coped well with it.

But I cried when I got home.

Adventures in wallpapering / Retail therapy

I decided to take a couple of days off work yesterday and today - it's a very nice feeling still to have lots of annual leave left to take by this time of the year.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been gathering painting and decorating supplies together, as I've decided to paint or redecorate almost every part of my house in the coming weeks and months.

First for a new look was my bathroom, which I've treated to a nice new, stylish and modern look with grey/silver tiling-on-a-roll.  After removing the old wallpaper (which turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected) this revealed a rather damaged wall full of holes and lumps and bumps. I'm not one for blowing my own trumpet but it's nice to discover a new talent for plastering walls!

After all the preparatory work, yesterday was wallpapering day.  When I was growing up, I was very lucky to have two very determined female role models in my life - my gran and my mum - whose basic philosophy in life was self-taught self-sufficiency.  So basically as I got older I learned to sew and make my own clothes, to paint and even fit carpets - although my carpet fitting days are now over (it's too stressful!).

The one thing I was always scared of was wallpapering, something mum and gran did with ease. But when mum and I moved into our current home several years ago, I was thrown in at the deep end and quickly learned this new skill.  But I was never really happy with that old papering job in the bathroom.  And every time I raised the subject with mum, she'd always come back with "there's nothing wrong with it!"

But the fact remained that, apart from being my own biggest critic and constantly striving for better, the bathroom was in need of a new look. I was talking to someone the other week who said that "you'll want to make the house your own" which immediately triggered a Louis Walsh moment :)

Anyway after hours of work - complicated, as you will see, by trying to match the wallpaper's very complex and random tiling layout (pictured above) - the job was finally done.  So please excuse me if I stand back and have a little happy and proud moment, because I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I've said this before, but even though mum's not physically with me, she's definitely with me all the time, guiding me along.  The voice in my head.  Although she always hated grey....

After a hard day's work it was time for a nice dinner last night with faithful travelling companion at one of our fave local eateries :))

Today was all about the October Shopping Trip, something I usually do at this time of year - buying a new winter jacket and new boots, as well as dipping my toes into the bottomless pit that is Christmas shopping!  My heart really goes out to the poor retail staff in a certain very popular card shop who will have to endure the Christmas songs on a repeat loop for the next 9 weeks - for it has started already!

As I've previously mentioned on here, I've gained a horrific amount of weight over the past year and a half and due to one thing or another, it's been pretty impossible to shift.  So it was with some regret that I had to go up yet another size for my new winter jacket (pictured above).  As for the boots, I finally found a pair which happily stretched to accommodate a pair of muscular - not fat! - calves which were always a problem even when I was a couple of stones lighter.

So today was a very productive day!  Back to work tomorrow and then I'm planning the most relaxing weekend in a long time - really need to write some blog posts too :)

Breaking bag (or how I learned to love my shopping trolley)

Being a non-driver who does a lot of walking, it was inevitable that I would end up injuring myself as a result of carrying shopping bags which are far too heavy.  And that's exactly what happened a few months ago, and I finally made my mind up that after years of carrying heavy bags, enough was enough.  Drastic measures were required.  

I bought a shopping trolley. 

And since that time, I haven't looked back.  It was possibly my best purchase of 2014 and has changed my life.

Something else happened since I bought the trolley. In October 2014, the Scottish Government imposed a charge of 5p for every carrier bag provided by all retailers, (where these bags used to be free).  This is to ensure that people recycle their bags, but hasn't entirely been a successful move.  For example, I previously re-used my supermarket carrier bags as bin liners, but have now ended up buying packs of bin liners, which instead of the supermarket bags are now filled with rubbish and ending up in landfill, thus defeating the purpose of the exercise. 

Since the carrier bag charge was introduced, we now gleefully take our stash of carrier bags from rival supermarkets with us, probably much to the annoyance of those stores who, although trying to boast 'green' credentials, would like nothing more than their customers walking out of the stores with 'their' bags, advertising 'their' products.

One knock-on effect of the introduction of the carrier bag charge has been a slow but noticeable increase in the number of people turning up at my local supermarkets with their shopping trolleys in tow.  Either that or I may have started a trend among my fellow shoppers!

So, forget the notion that trolleys are only for "old grannies" well that's not true.  Anyway, who cares what people think?  Don't worry what people say, get out there and wheel your trolleys with pride.  Your health matters.  Your back, shoulders and arms will thank you for it, trust me :) 

The feelgood factor

I'd have to say it was one of my smarter decisions, putting in for a day off work today. When I made this decision a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be a good idea to take a long weekend to unwind and chill out after a few quite stressful weeks.

What I wasn't expecting was the beautiful, warm sunny weather and temperatures approaching 20 degrees! It was yet another gorgeous day which started off with me doing the annual springtime ritual of becoming "flame haired" again. Then I put on some summery clothing - including sandals!! - for a day out for some retail therapy with mum, rather than the kind of day I expected - sitting indoors, staring out at the rain battering off the window.

Everyone in their summer gear (and some pretty scary sights too - the fashion atrocities must have gone into treble figures today!) Remind me what month it is????

Of course it won't last and it will all be over by the end of this week, because the weathermen told us so. Guess we'd better enjoy our summer whilst we can :))

On the down side, I can't describe how much my legs are still hurting after Saturday's gardening marathon :((

This time, we'll get it right

For some bizarre reason, I'm borrowing the post title from the England World Cup Squad football song from 1982. They weren't singing about Christmas shopping of course, but I thought it was an appropriate title tonight.

Today saw part 2 of my Christmas shopping bonanza. In 2011, I have decided to be even more organised than ever and get as much Christmas shopping done as early as possible. Today, like last Saturday, was very productive. A jewellery blitz in Next was followed by a card/gift bag blitz in Card Factory and then it was on to Boots for a 3 for 2 on Champneys spa stuff. Finally. I've moved on from all the Sanctuary goodies to something new :)

It's been a good weekend all in all. Last night, we finally made it to our favourite local Indian restaurant for my birthday meal, 2 week later than planned as I hadn't been too well around that time. Happily the work-stress is finally starting to ease off, but it's still the worst time of year for that....roll on January!

October

As months go, October is probably one of my least favourites. It really hasn't got much going for it: the holidays are over and there's not much to look forward to, the weather gets colder, the days get darker, Christmas is being foisted on us by every high street store before it's even Halloween, the fireworks start going on sale for all the anti-social low lifes to let off every night between now and 5th November, making our streets even more of a no-go area than they are already. My mood sinks so low that I end up comfort eating, getting fat, gaining weight, getting angry that I'm getting fat. And don't start me about work...

Anyway being the optimist I am, I'm trying to think of something good about October. Then I remembered that this is probably my favourite time of the year for clothes. I might have said on this blog before now that I love autumn fashion, and that's still the same. You can forget all the trendy designer shops - my favourite clothes shop is the magnificent Matalan. Good quality clothes at reasonable prices, you can't go wrong.

One of my major autumn/winter obsessions is boots. When you live in a country with a climate as utterly dire as this one, you can't have enough boots of course. On Saturday I headed for Matalan with my birthday money and bought not one but two new pairs of boots for the winter. One of them is a knee-high dark grey pair, the other is a mid-calf brown pair (pictured above). Today was like a winter's day, so I wore the brown pair to work, and they passed the test.

Last word on my birthday - I did very well this year...two pairs of boots, a new skirt, a Father Ted DVD box set, a crystal bracelet, two bottles of red wine and still some money left to spend. Result!

Ironing board covers? Forget it.

God I hate this town so much. And every day I get little reminders, like pop-up windows, reminding me why I hate this town so much - and this is just since yesterday:

You can't get reasonably priced 2 litre bottles of Coca Cola: you have to buy 3 litre ones.

You can't buy decent leggings unless you're a size 10.

You can't buy decent bath essence.

Now add to the list the complete absence of ironing board covers.

I hate this town. The only decent thing about it is the buses and the trains, taking everyone to more decent towns than this one. My only consolation is that there are worse towns than this one, believe it or not.

Saturday.

Which meant some long-overdue retail therapy in the big city, with faithful travelling companion. (And I wondered....why do you run out of all your cosmetics/toiletries at the same time??)

Nice Italian lunch, very agreeable vegetarian lasagne :) however on the down side, one of our favourite branches of Caffe Nero is closing. Really sad about this as it was one of the few coffee shops you could be guaranteed a seat in....maybe that's why it's closing I guess??

Tonight just chilled out with a mixture of "Who Dares Wins" and my weekly revisiting of "Phoenix Nights" - now onto series 2. Classic stuff.

And finally, all hail Morrisons Cheese & Onion Potato Skins, for they are truly wonderful ;)

Retail therapy!!!

Other things happened on Saturday 13.03.10 too....

I didn't realise it would be so difficult getting my hands on a bag for my big 17" widescreen laptop, but happily I found one at last - an affordable one too, even better.

Which left me more cash to splash on a nice new flowery-patterned long top (short dress?) and I finally tracked down those elusive black quilted patent leather boots which I've dreamed of owning for so long.. if you want to see what they look like, check out http://www.quizclothing.co.uk/footwear/2205009818.html

Sales success.

My first outing to the 2009 post-Christmas sales today, and it was very successful too - new skirt, knitwear, handbag, jewellery, bath stuff and the long-awaited skinny jeans. Now you know that I'd previously bought a pair in the summer sales but they were too small for me when I bought them. This time I wasn't making that mistake and made sure I bought a pair which were a good fit to begin with.

Thank goodness for shops that do petite ranges: it's not always easy finding jeans when you're only a 29" leg. And another thing....why do jeans manufacturers assume that if you're a size 16 then you must be about 5ft 10" tall????

Anyway I got my new jeans, so rant over. Good old Dorothy Perkins.

I'll have to wait till next week to head off to the big city for part 2 of my sales adventures: in the meantime it's back to work tomorrow, aah the joys of living in a town with no decent shops :(

And it's very, very, very, very cold tonight, there is no sign of the week-old snow melting and the pavements are so icy now that only Torvill and Dean would be able to negotiate them!!

That happy post-Christmas feeling.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and that it was everything you wished for.

I had a very enjoyable time, no change to the usual Christmas routine but that's the way we like it! Got lots of lovely presents and also lots of money to buy some more goodies in the sales!!

We are still surrounded by snow: it's been so cold that last week's snow hasn't melted, and there are little daily top-ups of new snow too. The temperature tonight is forecast to drop to -5 degrees which is pretty cold for this country but that's nothing compared to other parts of the world which are much worse, and they just get on with it.

I haven't been out for a few days but will finally venture out tomorrow - wrapped up in my fabulous new cosy scarf which I got for Christmas - to check out the sales, which as usual will probably be rubbish and I'll moan relentlessly that there's nothing in the clothes shops but size 8s and 10s which they haven't been able to shift for months - however they may yet surprise me :)))

07.11.09. That would be Sir Cliff then, singing Mistletoe and Wine.

It's here.

Just the other day I happened to mention that there hadn't been any Christmas songs on, during any recent bouts of retail therapy. Good.

Until today that is. I decided to head off to the big city on my own, as today was a bit of a research trip - checking out what's on offer a) to buy for Christmas presents and b) to suggest to Santa what I might like....anyway it was a bit of a marathon which took its toll, so I'll be having an early night and not blogging into 2am or thereabouts. It was a pretty successful and productive day: the Christmas shopping has officially begun.

Now I love Christmas, so don't think that you have a bah-humbug thing going on here, but I think there should be an embargo on Christmas songs being played in shops until, say, the beginning of December at least. At this time of the year I feel really sorry for those who work in the retail trade, being subjected to the same old musical classics/turkeys (delete where appropriate) year after year.

Anyway I went into BHS and was greeted by..."Christmas time, mistletoe and wine" and my heart immediately sank. That's it started now, there is no escape until 25.12.2009. There's a lot to be said for iPods.

Talking of which, I called mine into action on the bus home, as I had the world's loudest man sitting behind me, yelling into his mobile phone for the most part of the journey. The best part was that brief few moments of silence when he lost the signal..... :)))))

Woolies R.I.P.

Recessions come and go, but the big stores always survived. Till now anyway. Woolworths have always been there, for everything from Pick n' Mix to half price suitcases to top 40 CDs to Ladybird children's clothes to insoles and superglue. They seemed to sell a little bit of everything, but even that wasn't enough to save them.

In a big city it probably wouldn't really matter whether they were there or not: but in a small town like the one I live in, Woolies is/was an essential part of life.

Their heyday is long gone of course. They started selling too much, the shop became so packed that you couldn't actually find anything in it and it all became a bit tacky. Back in the 70s of my childhood, their Christmas TV adverts were legendary and star-studded, in the days when celebrities actually were celebrities. But now, as those great philosophers the Kaiser Chiefs once said, everything is average nowadays. Celebrities, advertising, Woolies. Yet I'll miss them.

MFI has also gone into administration. Who's next?