Panic BuyingIt's the last shopping day before the whole country shuts down for christmas. You've been looking all over for something, anything, to buy your favourite person. Something that says you care, that makes them see you in a new light.
Well, something that won't make them punch you would do. My brother-in-law once bought his wife a bin for her birthday - it was a very nice bin, but boy was he in the crud for days.
What have you bought in sheer panic and desperation? Go on, you know you do it every year.
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chthonic, Fri 23 Dec 2005, 15:10)
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co-op does it betterLast year my grandparents decided to pull a surprise visit on me a couple of days before christmas. The only thing is we'd already arranged to get together in the new year instead and so I'd not bought any presents for them. I thought I'd have time after christmas when the sales were on and I could get more for my money.
They live about 45 mins away from me and rang as they were setting off.They just wanted me and mr pechogonas to have our presents for christmas and thought they'd have a run out in the car as the weather was nice. This didn't leave me time to go into town to buy them anything (I don't drive).
I spent 15 mins frantically tidying the house and then went to the co-op late shop over the road to see what I could find. I always buy my nan some 'just brazils' and my grandpa some 'fry's turkish delight' every year, but the best I could do on this occasion was the equivalent co-op own brand varieties at 99p a box. And a pot plant.
They arrived and we swapped presents; myself apologising profusely for my meagre offerings, explaining my original plan; my nan being lovely and claiming it was worth it just to have something to open on xmas day.
They phoned on xmas day and thanked me for the presents, and me, wracked with guilt, thanked them for the great presents they had given me.
Throughout this year I have occasionally thought back to this and vowed to make it up to them. This year I bought my nan a beautiful brooch and my grandpa an expensive book, plus the obligatory choccy brazils and turkish delight, this time of the M&S variety.
In the phone call this year my nan effused about her lovely brooch and my grandpa's book, but asked if next year they could have the sweets that we bought them last year, the cheapo co-op ones, because they tasted so much nicer than the M&S ones.
The moral of the story kids. Don't feel guilty about last minute buys - you never know, they are not only cheaper, but they might just be appreciated more too.
Oh, and M&S sell expensive shite.
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no longer a user, Tue 27 Dec 2005, 14:12,
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