Nothing. Well, unless you count a Big Issue, a sandwich and a cup of tea. I went to London, to Oxford Street itself, with intentions of buying new items of clothing that were not black or white or for work, but I did not buy any such things. Never mind, it was an experience. I just thought it was something one should do at this time of year and I’d never done it before. I went to Selfridges, which was quite nice, and played on the escalators. I have now realised that I’m not as scared of getting on them if I get on directly behind someone else, so now I just have to wait until some unsuspecting person gets on and then get on behind them in a too-close-for-an-English-person sort of way.
It turned out to be a good job that I’d practised on the escalators in Selfridges, because when it came to the time for me to go home the buses were not running all the way to the station I needed to get to. I’m not sure why, but they’d shut Park Lane for some reason. So, I had to go on the dreaded Underground, which I have a love-hate relationship with. Fortunately, I put my new escalator-riding method into action and the journey was only two stops (one change), so no panicking occurred. Phew.
Now I am home eating too much Chocolate Orange.
Happy New Year! Heh heh, I cannot believe this, I hate escalators too, and the ones in the London Underground particularly freak me out. Nobody believes me about how bad my vertigo gets on them. We just went to a shopping centre today (in a suburb of Sydney, nowhere as exciting as Oxford Street) and being on the fifth floor made me jumpy. I don’t know why they can’t close these places in, why do we have to have an enormous visible drop down to basement 2 or wherever??
I’ve been the same about the sales, except I did buy a bra after having a revelation that I’ve been wearing the wrong size for years despite being properly measured, and I bought a $2 box of soap, and 4 boxes of tissues at 85 cents each! Exciting! There aren’t many bargains around here. The shops seem to have been having sales since October.
I think the sales are overrated – and there are plenty of online bargains which don’t require Venturing Out.
We have started our year of buying only local/fair trade/recycled things (aka ‘The Year of Brilliance’!) and so our contribution to the economy, sales-wise, was to purchase a fair trade hoodie for Dave from People Tree. Hurrah.
I loved your tale of escalator excitement. : )
Helen, we are very similar, it’s funny! I think my escalator problem is vertigo related, as I find downwards ones particularly problematic, although it also seems to be dependent on how stressed I am generally, which is rather odd.
Sarah, I agree, the sales are definitely overrated! At least I can say I tried them anyway! All the best for your ethical shopping challenge.