Shopping

​Shopping.  I know that word can send shudders down the spine.  But there are definitely those who enjoy the exercise.  There seems to be the lingerers and the getters.
I am definitely a getter.  I am one who knows what I need.  Does the research.  Determines where I can get what I want at the best price.  Asks if that is their best price if I can.  Gets in and out.  Now that I do find fun.  It is taking four hours to purchase one item I have trouble with.  And colour is definitely low on my priority list.
For some though shopping is a whole experience.  Days are planned around it.  I know I am not a good one to be with for such an excursion.  I am likely to be up ahead waiting while the person I am with has disappeared into Isle Thee where they are examining something that is not needed but is interesting.  To me it is like they have disappeared into Isle three and are scanning every item on every shelf.  It is probably best I find a comfortable place to wait.
For some, it is planning to get together and organizing the day over a coffee.   “First up we will visit this shop.  That will take us up to morning tea which we will have at this joint.  After that we should go to this shop and do it before lunch.  We can have lunch at this place before we visit this shop and then go home”.  For them shopping does not seem to be a punishment but a reward.
It probably only highlights how bad I am but Merril and I were on an elevator in a shopping centre when I mentioned to her that I did not know hell had elevators.
I must admit though shopping centres are great places for picking up chicks.  It was a rarity for me, but I was doing the cooking one time before I was married.  I needed a herb.  But which one?  A girl was approaching so I asked her.  Few things seem to inspire a maternal response more than a man in distress.  Fair dinkum I learned what I needed and much more.  Frankly though, I was not as interested in the extra information as I was the girl.
Still, I must be doing something right.  A shop attendant yesterday said they would get extra in on a certain day to ensure I got what I was after.  That was unprompted and I was glad to hear it.  At another shop an attendant said something that could only be said by someone who remembered me.  Got to admit I was chuffed as they would see thousands a week. (I really hoped she did not remember me as I smelled so bad how could they forget.)
To me both ways of shopping are right.  Sometimes it is a get in and out thing.  Other days it is a linger thing.  I must admit much of the stuff that is normally only seen by me as a blur is interesting.
I can’t see myself ever being happy to have a shop day though.  Some things are a bridge to far.  But I need to start somewhere.  Isle Three.  I am sure there is interesting stuff there…