Nojomo 26. Shopping alone... in The season for arachnids. Autumn 2016

I was asked to reveal all, to gush profusely about my morning of shopping, solo....

I had a lovely morning despite the tortoiseshell cat, Amba, whinging from 5:30am to be let into L’s room. Aagh! Does she not understand that it’s Saturday!!

I did doze until 7ish with periodical wake ups to yell ”AMBA!”

The early morning was chilled with a long, hot shower and porridge (with Facebook since no one else was at the table!) And I left the house just before 9 with a list.

First stop, a local shop called Something Different. They have bath bombs, candles, knick knacks, oil burners, essentials oils etc… I bought a mini bomb for each girl and bits and bobs for the two friends for whom I buy Christmas gifts - candles, bombs, soap etc… then I mooched to Waterstones, looking for reading lights. The girls like to have books in the car but often we drive after dark (on the way back from climbing for example) so I thought that mini book lights would be a good plan. From there I went on to Primark for some good old child-free changing room fun! They had two Christmas dresses, Santa and an elf and the sizes were, at first glance, utterly useless; they had 10-12 or 14-16. In English sizes I am 12-14!! Blooming annoying! Anywho, I tried both sizes - the larger ones were like tents and the smaller elf dress was a tad tight while the smaller Santa dress fitted like a dream, and the fur is so soft and nice! On the way to the till I also grabbed a couple more roll neck tops - I live in these during the winter because they’re made with man made, cheap material so it’s really warm!!

Onto WH Smith for fun erasers and more bits for a gift for a friend.

The last stop was Boots where I found two very basic but pretty photo albums for £5 each but with an offer of buy one get the second half price so score!!

Not an overly exciting morning but one in which I could go where I wanted, when I wanted and look at what I wanted without having to deal with “I want it!” all the time.