Post Xmas sales

Had a great Xmas. Woke up mid morning and did the champers, H&C croissant/opening prezzies with Rez and Andy thing.

About 2ish we headed down the road (no transport available Xmas Day here, therefore the opportunity of a walk down the street to a strangers house was somewhat appealing). There were about 30 other Aussies at Megsys’ (our flatmate) friends’ flat. It was cute seeing people in thongs and tankies (however far away I am) on Christmas Day crammed into such a small place. It was actually quite a nice day, bit on the chilly side, but the sun shone for most of the day (sunlight however fades around 3.30ish). Met heaps of new people – including a chick called Heather who is originally from Adelaide, but over from Sydney for a month and had funnily enough decided to venture alone to Belfast for NYE! How weird!
We thought we were the only ones – by the way, incase I hadn’t told you already, Rez, Andy and I decided to take up Pete’s kind offer of pub crawl in Belfast for NYE! We fly out on the morning of the 31st (Saturday) and we are all staying at Pete’s cousins’, in Belfast. I am sure it will be a whirlwind trip of Irish pub walls (and green beer – or do I have my excuse for drinking holidays mixed up?), but none the less, it is our first trip out of London, NYE and the guys we will be hanging out with are always available to show us a good time. More details on this trip next year.

It snowed! Tuesday morning, woke up, opened my curtains, and there it was – snow was falling and the road below my window was dusted in white! I woke Rez up and I have never seen her jump out of bed so quick – we got some shots that I will send at some stage in the near future. Needless the say the cold is hereeeeee!

What would one expect a fresh young chick, (that’s still me for a bit longer) just moved to London to do on the Boxing Day Holiday?
Nat messaged me Boxing Day night ‘Hey Ness, just wondering if you wanna come shopping to the sales with me tomorrow?’ Ha! What do you think my thoughts were? If you answered ‘you wouldn’t have had to think about it and said yes immediately’, then you are right and know me too well.

Met Nat at the ‘becoming more regular meeting point’ of Shelleys Shoes at Oxford Circus around 10.30am. We headed through the millions to a coffee shop to plan our attack. That attack was short lived after the first experience of the day was H&M. We managed to spend until lunch time in there! I came out with a pink work suit jacket for £4.99, aqua work shirt for £2.99 and a red ¾ sleeve T for £4.99. Have to say I was happy with the first lot of bargains!
I willingly let Nat drag me into Lido Café (kinda unlike the Holdfast Shores namesake!) where we were oh so indecisive about what to eat – it was much easier choosing clothing to buy let me tell you! Considering I was going to need all the energy I could get for the shopping experience I was about to endure, I settled on Spaghetti Vongole (a clam, tomato and wine sauce – yummo!) and of course a diet coke – I think I have had enough alcohol to sink a battleship to date. I actually ate the whole plate of pasta – and it was huge! Despite all you hear about the catastrophic prices of things in London, this place is a must when in the high fashioned Oxford St as my meal was a measly £3.70!
Ok, back to the sales. Next – was Next. This place was sooo packed, that there were no change rooms. Weirdo shopping experiences around the world #5501. Maybe this defeated the purpose, because people were lined up in front of mirrors to try things on – needless to say I didn’t buy the jeans I saw when I first entered the store! I did however buy a top (that I am actually wearing to work today) that is has a pink and green paisley retro theme to it (As Nat would say – something only I would pick up but surprisingly looks good on! He he)

New Look was next, after Next, and this was the most packed of all – mainly due to the bargains available. The change rooms were surprisingly quiet though. I think everyone was over the change room lock down that other store had employed and therefore they just bought stuff without trying on – god help the chicks at the return counter. Anyway, something else for weirdo shopping experiences around the world #5502 – I took 2 items into the change room and was told that I could only take 4 – as I was handed 2 more items of clothing??!
Anyway, that was only on one excursion to try stuff on in this store. There were many others and I managed to get at least 4 items on the other occasions.
(Insert mum comment) I didn’t buy the best red ¾ coat for £25! I also didn’t buy some vintage brown corduroy 3/5 shorts for £5 and I didn’t buy a cropped black suit jacket for £15 annnndd I didn’t go back to this shop later in the evening (because we were looking for a belt for Nat!!??? Really we were!) and discover there was a downstairs bit with accessories and soooo many shoes and handbags (thinking of you always Aunty Karen, Jayne, Geppy, Carly etc) so I didn’t buy some black knee high boots for £15 and 2 knitted hats for £2 each. (Hey, its cold here, you just don’t understand how excited I am to have a reason to buy hats!! Excluding Carly here;)


Ok, sorry, boys, lots of shop talk – Chelsea one against Fulham 3 -2? (My new FOOTY team)

Love to hear from everyone… Hope everyone is well and making the most of that beach and summer heat wave.

PS ok, now I understand that K Packer died. RIP. This I have confirmed, but on the radio here yesterday, I just heard it was his birthday… can anyone confirm that it was his birthday on the day he died? Sounds morbid but the news here is seeming a bit like Chinese whispers ;0)