Round in circles
I try to avoid shopping whenever possible, partly because I usually spend entirely too much money and partly because shopping in London is most likely worse than you can possibly imagine. Sunday I finally gave in to my lack of tank tops and forced myself to wander down to Oxford Street (Yes, I know this is the worst possible place to go if you hate shopping and live in London. It is also a gargantuan 10-minute walk from my flat.). I needed to go to 3 places, with a fourth added on because I'd been meaning to go there for months and still hadn't managed to. So after breakfast, I sighed and wandered down to Topshop, the first store on the list.
Now. Everywhere else in England, on a Sunday, the shops open at 11 am. I'm under the assumption that those on Oxford Street will be the same. I'm wrong. Topshop opens at 11:30. 'That's fine,' I think, 'I'll just go to Debenhams and get Matt's watch fixed.' Doesn't open until 12. Neither does the J-Mart, or Liberty's. So back to Topshop to wait for it to open, as it's now about twenty-past 11.
Outside Topshop, there are hundreds of people, waiting for it to open. I think this is stupid. The only reason I'm there is that I don't have the money to spend £20 per top, and I'm beginning to look a little scruffy, and I got the opening times wrong. These people, however, DESPERATELY NEED to get into the shop RIGHT NOW. There was a woman banging on the doors, people, banging on the doors. Finally the shop opens, and I shuffle in zombie-style with everyone else. I grab my things, try them on, and then make my way to the till where I'm told that although the shop is open, the tills are not open. They do not open until 12 when, legally, they are allowed to due to when they shut. After glaring at the tills, I find a seat and tap my foot until 12. At which point I do the whole circle of shops again.
This country is insane.
Now. Everywhere else in England, on a Sunday, the shops open at 11 am. I'm under the assumption that those on Oxford Street will be the same. I'm wrong. Topshop opens at 11:30. 'That's fine,' I think, 'I'll just go to Debenhams and get Matt's watch fixed.' Doesn't open until 12. Neither does the J-Mart, or Liberty's. So back to Topshop to wait for it to open, as it's now about twenty-past 11.
Outside Topshop, there are hundreds of people, waiting for it to open. I think this is stupid. The only reason I'm there is that I don't have the money to spend £20 per top, and I'm beginning to look a little scruffy, and I got the opening times wrong. These people, however, DESPERATELY NEED to get into the shop RIGHT NOW. There was a woman banging on the doors, people, banging on the doors. Finally the shop opens, and I shuffle in zombie-style with everyone else. I grab my things, try them on, and then make my way to the till where I'm told that although the shop is open, the tills are not open. They do not open until 12 when, legally, they are allowed to due to when they shut. After glaring at the tills, I find a seat and tap my foot until 12. At which point I do the whole circle of shops again.
This country is insane.
Labels: britain
posted by Auglaise at 11:24 AM
2 Comments:
haha I love this post. It SO sums up shopping for me too. I work with a bunch of those door bangers and it amazes me that they HAVE to get in to the shop RIGHT NOW. Apart from the fact that top shop large would just about cover my navel. I used to like top shop when I was a bit smaller, but then it turned into this weird thing with people desperate to get in there.
They're all insane! ^_^
I know what you mean about TopShop - I wouldn't usually shop there, but they had an offer on their vest tops, and I was living in hope of sunshine at the time.
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