Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Disclaimer: The author will not be liable for any damages caused by the sporadic shouting of the distraught woman; from whom the passage below originated. Rest assured that no personal attack on anyone/thing but herself is intended.

Oxford St is bad and destructive. Avoid it as far as you can.

It was yet another gloomy day, more winterish than springy. I successfully banned myself from switching on the computer, let alone play games and surf the net. And the games I play are not as sophisticated as CM or whatever it is you boys play, they are Spider Solitaire & Hearts. Sad, tak? Not particularly exciting but are intensely challenging for one who has a low brain capabilty like I do; nevertheless a fighter who can't endure losing and that my friend, leads to ultimate addiction. So after breakfast I went to Chip's to revise Marketing. Still drowsy at first but after flexing my brain muscles on a battered Argos Spring price-cut catalogue and a Hollywood show depicting the lives of celebrity newly weds and their domestic squabbling, I would say that I was rather productive.

I planned to fetch my repaired mobile from the shop on Oxford St before dinnertime and so I went. It was an afternoon perfect for a walk. The sun was out but not scorching and the temperature was in the teens - mild; just nice. Today, bless the wind for leaving the city dwellers in peace. After all it was Easter vacation, surely it too needs a rest from tormenting the souls of good, innocent people like myself. The traffic surrounding Oxford St was at a standstill. Something must have gone haywire in the Mayfair area, the busiest district I've come to know. I suppose de-bottlenecking this part of the city is impossible given that the existing structure dates back to hundreds of years ago. It's too late to expand the roads whereas the recently imposed congestion charge have not but the most minimal an effect. Walking past handsome yuppies in Merc, I silently laughed at the ill-fated commuters, muttering "How much did you say you paid to ride this motionless transport again?".

Oxford St was as hectic as usual but this time I was lucky as I was served almost instantly on arrival at the shop. The last time I had to wait 20 odd minutes. I was so annoyed that when one of the sales representatives tried to cheer me up by joking, I put on my cynic expression, u know that one eyebrow raised, one corner of the mouth lifted, as if to say "Hahaha! Very funny. Now, why dont u get out of my face". Sitting, wondering how well do these Phones4U sales reps get paid. They are so smartly dressed - suit, starched (err...then again, maybe not) pressed shirt, tie, polished leather shoes. I mean are they provided for? And there were no whites in sight; British maybe but ethnic minority - Asian (in this country that means of Indian, Pakistan, Bangladesh background) or Oriental (far east e.g. Chinese, Japanese, etc. I consider myself i.e. Malay as category "other") British. So the whites get the more glamourous jobs in high places while the minorities do the hard, frontline job. Is that how it works in this company?

Got my mobile, it was quarter to 6, ample time. Maybe I should head up to Tesco, see if I could find some interesting looking munchies and on my way I could drop by at HMV, it's on sale apparently. AND IT WAS A HUGE HUGE MISTAKE!!! I WENT IN JUST TO LOOK AND I CAME OUT WITH 3 DVDs IN MY BAG. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!! I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO SHOP. BEARING IN MIND THAT I AM SUPPOSED TO BE SAVING FOR THIS WEEKEND'S ZURICH TRIP. AND NOT 1 DVD, NO. I HAVE TO BUY 3. HELLLOOOO !! THE ONLY EXCUSE I HAVE TO JUSTIFY THIS OSTENSIBLE UNNECESSARY SPENDING IS THAT THEY ARE MY-NOT-EASILY-ATTAINABLE-ALL-TIME-FAVOURITES. SOMEONE, PLS SPANK ME. HARD.

Defeated once I was determined not to be defeated again. I plucked up some courage, put a brave face and walked straight home (by then Tesco was totally out of the picture) thinking "Gee, this is quite a progress from yesterday and what was the saying Out of the fire, into the frying pan?!"

P.s- HMV changed its policy. No more return, only exchange and even that is only applicable within 14 days of purchase. Damn.

posted by ShopTastic @ 5:30 am |