Yesterday, I went Christmas shopping in Kingston! After leaving the train, I found the station barriers were open, so it seemed I didn’t need to pay for a ticket and could have very easily have screwed the train company out of £4. Not a nice thing to do, it’s even illegal, but I’m just saying I could have done. Like I could have tried on some clothes, got them slightly dirty, put them back and walked away. Oh that happened on Thursday. But to be clear, I have no interest in committing CRIMES. Not Christmassy, not cool. Perhaps selfishly, the first things I bought in the town were 2 CDs for me. One album was for fans of Jimmy Eat World AND American Football! I love both of those bands! When I got home I found I paid a cheaper amount than I would have done if I ordered on Amazon, the downside being I didn’t really like the music very much. But maybe it will grow on me.
Anyway, in Kingston after leaving the music store, I went to a toy shop. I thought I saw a perfectly reasonable cuddly toy for my niece, but on closer inspection, it had an unzippable mouth where children can put hand written notes explaining what their emotional problems are. Their parents later read the notes. Me buying such a product could have very easily been taken the wrong way. My brother and sister in law would be like ‘Does our child look troubled to you? Are you criticising our parenting?’ Very awkward. Soon after, I walked to a store selling only American candy. My understanding is that ‘candy’ (sweets) from the USA are like British ‘candy’ (sweets!!) just not as good. But still… something different. Although as I bought the stuff for my one year old nephew I don’t THINK he has the ability to know what is or isn’t novel. If he does, wow. I was told he likes ‘anything with wheels’, but I did buy him a huge lollipop in the shape of a wheel. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get confused and start licking cars, afterwards.
I then bought a hairbrush for my sister in law. Again, that’s not suggesting anything. I’m not suggesting she has bad hair, I’m certainly not suggesting she has bad hair and is a bad mum, too, I just thought it was in the right price range and was maybe something a little unexpected. Buying presents for my older nieces was harder, because they’re too old for unicorns, BUT everyone keeps buying them pens! Maybe some CDs could work? Sadly much of the music in the shop I visited beforehand could be considered a bit too girly even for girls. I was stuck. No, wait! Chocolate! Sorted. And of course, I bought some of the stuff for myself. Mmmmm. In the chocolate shop, I asked what the time was. I was told it 2 PM. There’s no way that could possibly have been true, but as it was told to me so casually, I believed it at the time. Two thirty, maybe.
As I apparently had so much time, I decided to get a cheap-ish pizza and a cheesecake! The former didn’t seem to be cooked properly, bits of it were a bit cold, but MAYBE that was intentional. I do like cold pizza. Maybe it’s preparation was supposed to be very interesting. Daring. And maybe it was. After everything was eaten, I walked back to the station. I saw that I had 50 minutes until the train home! Screw that! Time to get some wine for my dad in the same area. I was going to get it at the local petrol station, but it was time to use my initiative. NOW I needed my ticket to get passed the barriers. Not a waste of money after all! Legal and satisfying at the same time. Anyway, after picking up the wine, I was told to use the self service checkout. However, I needed a member of staff to confirm my age. As I asked for help, it looked to others like I didn’t know what I was doing which was annoying. Actually, in the end, I nailed it.
Right! That was the day out! The Christmas blog will be coming out soon, but I will be celebrating at least one day late, so expect a late blog! Bye!