Enjoy life: shopping can be fun.
Indulging in Shopping as a Tourist
Pat writes:
When I visit a town or city that I don’t know well, I try to fit in a few hours to have a look around the local shops. Part of the pleasure is that I feel no need to buy anything, and can simply get some ideas about what styles are available, colours for the coming season and to have a look at what other people are wearing.
Viewed from a different perspective, even the ubiquitous High Street chain stores can seem fresh.
Recently I had the pleasure of exploring the shops in Cambridge.
Cambridge offers an interesting mix of chain stores and small individual boutiques. There is a modern shopping complex called Grand Arcade. The architecture of Grand Arcade is somewhat bland, in that you could be anywhere in the world. There are a few unusual shops, and a sprinkling of coffee shops and cafes. This would be a good place for window shopping on a rainy day.
As a shopping tourist, I prefer the older streets of Cambridge. The city is a major destination for tourists from all over the world, thanks to the beautiful buildings that house the ancient University. These tourists support a wide range of higher-end shops. The prices may be outside my budget, but I do enjoy looking at the items on display in these shops.
Most of the streets in the city centre of Cambridge are closed to vehicle traffic during the working day. This makes is a particularly nice place for strolling and window shopping. There are however a good many bike-riders so don’t step off the pavement without looking over our shoulder!
Cambridge has an old-fashioned street market where you might be able to pick up unusual gifts or maybe some fresh fruit for an al fresco lunch.
If you feel the need to balance your window-shopping with a more cultural pastime, Cambridge has a wealth of fascinating museums. Two of my favourites are the Cambridge and County Folk Museum and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences.
Birmingham for Shopping Delight
Last Christmas I was given some money to buy myself some new clothes. I decided to wait until the spring clothes were in the shops and for the day when I could visit a place with a really good selection of shops.
The opportunity to spend the money presented itself on a recent trip to Birmingham. Now if you haven’t visited Birmingham, my choice of England’s ‘Second City’ as a shopping destination may surprise you, but those in the know will understand my delight in having a chance to shop there. As well as a much better than average selection of the usual High Street chains, Birmingham boosts a branch of Harvey Nichols as well as Selfridges (shown in the photo).
My shopping day dawned cold and grey; it was a Monday morning with few people around. I found it hard to imagine that the weather could ever be warm yet I was in search of something cheering that I might wear on a nice spring day.
I started by venturing into an elegant-looking shop and found rail after rail of unrelenting neutral colours. Okay, I know that neutrals form the basis of a flexible wardrobe, but after weeks of grey skies I wanted colour.
I found what I was looking for at Jaeger – a coral-coloured shirt that should look chic with trousers. As I was browsing to see if anything else caught my fancy, I noticed a pile of Glamour magazines (the March 2010 edition). Next to the magazines was a sign that read “20% Off with Glamour”. The deal was that if you bought a copy of Glamour magazine (£2) you got 20% (that’s 1/5th!) off the full price of the clothes you purchased. Suddenly, I liked the coral shirt even more. The ticket price was £99, so by spending £2 on the magazine I got a reduction of almost £20 on the shirt, enough to cheer up anyone on a grey Monday morning.
With fresh enthusiasm I set out in search of the next item on my ‘want list’: a summer dress that can be dressed up with heels and a chic clutch bag, or worn with flat sandals and a beach bag. It was not long before I thought that I had found just the thing in Harvey Nichols. The dress in question was made from cotton broderie anglais (so it was machine washable), it was black (so not too girly) and it had short sleeves that would cover my upper arms. When I held it up against me it appeared long enough to cover my knees. I had only been holding it for a few seconds when a sales assistant appeared and asked if she could help (normal for Harvey Nics).
I followed as she carried the dress to the fitting rooms, feeling a sense of excitement. The dress cost at least twice as much as I should be spending, but if it met my requirements it would be worth it. It is so difficult to find a summer dress that will cover both upper arms and knees.
I slipped it on and admired myself in the mirror. The cut was flattering and the style neither frumpy nor too young. So, I moved onto that essential stage of trying on a garment: testing for room to manoeuvre. Could I sit down? Yes! Could I raise my arms? Oh no! There was not even sufficient give to get my hands up to shoulder height. Hailing a taxi in that dress would be impossibility.
So I returned the dress to the rack and walked to Marks & Spencer. In the face
of disappointment I always try to do something sensible, so I bought myself a very basic ¾ length sleeve top from their Portfolio range. The Portfolio range is aimed at women aged about 40 and upwards who wish to appear stylish while avoiding that ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ look. The top that I bought is a cream colour (more flattering than white). I know that I will get loads more wear from it than I would from a black broderie anglais dress that wouldn’t allow me to raise my arms. As a bonus, I still have the money that I didn’t spend on the dress, so have the anticipation of another shopping day.
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