Today I bought....

ShoppingTelly

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Vienna, you've totally hit the nail on the head there, taking me right back to my teenage shopping trips with my friends. Again we didn't have much money to spend, but we still had enough to buy ourselves a few little bits, and have enough for a cuppa in town, where we'd sit down and pour over our purchases. Designer wasn't a thing back then, cheap body spray was our thing, perfume was strictly a christmas or birthday present, and even then they'd be budget brands like Charlie . The Chanels and Givenchys were strictly for the grown ups. A trip to the bead shop was always a must, you could buy earring wires and beads, make bracelets and necklaces for pennies. Your handbag would be plastic and it didn't matter where you bought it or whether it had a brand name on it. We talked to each other (no mobiles of course)..and we never left town with out buying ourselves a record..a single of course. Happy days!
 
Sazza said:
I would suspect it could be a recycling issue not necessarily trying to save money, a lot of pressure on companies to make packaging that can be recycled.
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But it was really cheap looking. The actual boxes are sturdy and expensively modern and that was in a box for posting.
 
Pre marriage and living in different area Mr L and I used to do an annual 2 hours each way train ride to Belfast. It was a long walk from the old station into the centre and we were usually frozen as the train was. unseated. We used to stop off at a cafe and buy a hot chicken bap and mug of hot chocolate before starting on the shops. Nothing since has ever tasted so good.
We had very little money but used to save up to buy something but remember one year coming back empty handed except for a pair of large joke rubber ears for a young relative!
 
AndiK said:
That’s really nice (sold out now) and very thoughtful of you. But how is she going to clean the house with that? ;)
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I've been buying small gifts throughout the year when I see something suitable, and kept a list of them, but now I've no idea where half of them have been put in the depths of Strato Towers, so my next big task is finding them, hopefully before Christmas.
 
Vienna said:
Shopping in all its forms is no longer special. Whether it`s in bricks and mortar stores, online or on the telly.
Those of us who recall pre internet shopping from our teens can maybe remember how a shopping trip was a twice a year luxury.
Our local town had lots of small shops and a thriving market but no large stores. Money was tight back then, few people could afford lots of clothes or expensive toiletries and so trips to nearby "big towns" were something to be excited about.
As a young teenager I remember catching a bus into Manchester with my Mum a few weeks before Christmas and it was my special treat going to choose some new clothes as my Christmas present for that year. The likes of C & A, Freeman Hardy Willis, a much bigger branch of Woolworth and so on, were teenage heaven. A new dress from C & A, some latest style shoes from FHW and some new makeup from the budget ranges in the big Woolies. Sheer heaven and that trip would be the last one until nearer the Summer when it would be a return trip to buy a few new items for our one week holiday to Butlins.
My Mum treated herself once a year on our pre Christmas trip to a bottle of Youth Dew so we`d head into one of the big department stores which was a perfumed paradise. The minute you went through the swing doors you were hit with the smell of a thousand cosmetic counters, each manned by elegant perfectly made up women wearing name badges and brand uniforms or colours.
Some of the perfumes were already gift wrapped in gold paper and with a ribbon and whilst Mum was waiting to be served at the Estee Lauder counter I`d be wandering around the other counters and was bedazzled by the beauty of them and testing everything from perfumes to lipsticks. I`d travel home smelling of things I`d never smelled before and itched for the day I would be able to afford lipsticks in gold cases, cut glass perfume sprays, fancy boxed soaps or diamante eye shadow palettes.
Our treat was to have lunch in the department store restaurant and it was dainty sandwiches and tea served in a china teapot and teacups. Then the bus home feeling happy, chuffed with our few purchases and something to talk about on the school bus the following Monday.
My Mum would walk around the department store handbag department and gently stroke the (to her) expensive leather handbags on sale there. She owned about 2 handbags similar to the style the Queen still uses and she`d had them for years. She loved the smell of the leather in that department but always said her one black bag and her one brown bag would serve every purpose but I remember her falling in love with a beautiful dove grey one.
When I left school at 16 and got my first full time job (wage was £7 per week) it was my first time going Christmas shopping alone. I headed off one Saturday and the first thing I went to buy was a dove grey leather handbag. She still had and used that bag many years later and when she died in 1987 and Dad asked me to empty her wardrobe, there was the bag, well used and containing her usual embroidered hanky, a few sweets and a comb.
By heck those shopping trips were special and nowadays nothing compares, we can buy what we want more or less when we want and without leaving the house if we choose to.
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Vienna, your description of you sorting out your mum's things has brought a tear to my eye.
What a lovely heartfelt post.
 
Evie said:
Vienna, you have captured the spirit of those special times perfectly You have taken me back to the magic of the sixties and some special times I was privileged to experience. Mine were based in London but just the same as yours.
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I love Vienna's stories, I could smell all the mingled fragrances & that feeling when going home on the bus. The grey handbag memory sums up love.
 
I was looking on Marks website and noticed for the first time they have a range called M&S X Ghost which are dresses designed by Ghost. Is this new ?
It’s far too cold here to wear floaty dresses so I never look at them so perhaps it’s been there all along but I just passed on by.
 
Some new bedding at Dunelm. I love Dorma white cotton zipped duvet covers, and Dunelm has the best range.
I also bought lots of faux flowers and foliage to make a festive display from there.
By the time I left there was a hefty queue waiting to go in. At present it definitely pays to go places early.
 
loveallthingsitalian said:
I was looking on Marks website and noticed for the first time they have a range called M&S X Ghost which are dresses designed by Ghost. Is this new ?
It’s far too cold here to wear floaty dresses so I never look at them so perhaps it’s been there all along but I just passed on by.
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Yes they are new I ordered the black one with gold stars and it’s lovely 😊
 
loveallthingsitalian said:
I was looking on Marks website and noticed for the first time they have a range called M&S X Ghost which are dresses designed by Ghost. Is this new ?
It’s far too cold here to wear floaty dresses so I never look at them so perhaps it’s been there all along but I just passed on by.
Click to expand...
lynnonthelake said:
Yes they are new I ordered the black one with gold stars and it’s lovely 😊
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I’m off to have a look!
 
Some stuff I ordered from Amazon arrived. I bought some supplements and a laptop screen cleaner. I'm waiting for a roll of contact paper, as I have a couple of bathroom units where the paint finish on the top has lifted badly. I'm hoping I have got enough to cover a multitude of sins!
 
Vienna said:
Shopping in all its forms is no longer special. Whether it`s in bricks and mortar stores, online or on the telly.
Those of us who recall pre internet shopping from our teens can maybe remember how a shopping trip was a twice a year luxury.
Our local town had lots of small shops and a thriving market but no large stores. Money was tight back then, few people could afford lots of clothes or expensive toiletries and so trips to nearby "big towns" were something to be excited about.
As a young teenager I remember catching a bus into Manchester with my Mum a few weeks before Christmas and it was my special treat going to choose some new clothes as my Christmas present for that year. The likes of C & A, Freeman Hardy Willis, a much bigger branch of Woolworth and so on, were teenage heaven. A new dress from C & A, some latest style shoes from FHW and some new makeup from the budget ranges in the big Woolies. Sheer heaven and that trip would be the last one until nearer the Summer when it would be a return trip to buy a few new items for our one week holiday to Butlins.
My Mum treated herself once a year on our pre Christmas trip to a bottle of Youth Dew so we`d head into one of the big department stores which was a perfumed paradise. The minute you went through the swing doors you were hit with the smell of a thousand cosmetic counters, each manned by elegant perfectly made up women wearing name badges and brand uniforms or colours.
Some of the perfumes were already gift wrapped in gold paper and with a ribbon and whilst Mum was waiting to be served at the Estee Lauder counter I`d be wandering around the other counters and was bedazzled by the beauty of them and testing everything from perfumes to lipsticks. I`d travel home smelling of things I`d never smelled before and itched for the day I would be able to afford lipsticks in gold cases, cut glass perfume sprays, fancy boxed soaps or diamante eye shadow palettes.
Our treat was to have lunch in the department store restaurant and it was dainty sandwiches and tea served in a china teapot and teacups. Then the bus home feeling happy, chuffed with our few purchases and something to talk about on the school bus the following Monday.
My Mum would walk around the department store handbag department and gently stroke the (to her) expensive leather handbags on sale there. She owned about 2 handbags similar to the style the Queen still uses and she`d had them for years. She loved the smell of the leather in that department but always said her one black bag and her one brown bag would serve every purpose but I remember her falling in love with a beautiful dove grey one.
When I left school at 16 and got my first full time job (wage was £7 per week) it was my first time going Christmas shopping alone. I headed off one Saturday and the first thing I went to buy was a dove grey leather handbag. She still had and used that bag many years later and when she died in 1987 and Dad asked me to empty her wardrobe, there was the bag, well used and containing her usual embroidered hanky, a few sweets and a comb.
By heck those shopping trips were special and nowadays nothing compares, we can buy what we want more or less when we want and without leaving the house if we choose to.
Click to expand...

Your trips with your mum were very like mine with my mum (though my mum was fairly well off by the time I came along). The trips were still special and a treat for both of us. We used to have afternoon tea at the department store, too, though the last few years we'd go into the big M&S for coffee instead. Mum loved to sit and look out at the lovely Christmas lights.

I kept up 'our tradition' until a few years ago. The lights are the cold LEDs these days and getting around is difficult so I gave up the year before last. It's just not the same any more. Everything feels so cold outside (funny how I never felt it back then despite being a chilblain sufferer) and so grubby inside. I can still close my eyes and think of our lovely Christmas teas, though.
 
Vienna, you have taken me right back! Twice a year as a child my mother would bring me to London in search of a Sunday best dress and perhaps (but certainly not always) something like a coat or a second best dress because we didn’t want the Sunday one ruined, thank you very much! Lunch was always somewhere like Selfridges or D.H.Evans and my mother really looked forward to that. The rest of my clothes came from shopping trips to our nearest towns but she always wanted the two trips for the best dress. I don’t think she ever got anything for herself though as money was very tight in those days. ☹️
 
And now for something completely different - part of my youth was spent in the tropics where white English ladies (everyone thought of themselves as ladies, anyway) went shopping on hot Saturday mornings in all their finery, smart polyester dresses, white shoes and white handbags and the obligatory backcombed hairdo. This was when they did their Christmas shopping, then stopped for a dainty cup of tea and cake at one of the posh department stores. Everyone ate the obligatory roast something with all the trimmings and Christmas pud on Christmas day in blistering heat.

Very, very different from my English Christmases when we had nothing, gave next to nothing yet had a magical time with people we knew and loved. Nothing can buy that.
 
My daughter follows Daisy Upton - fiveminutemum & last week she posted about all the special things to do with children that don't involve huge amounts of planning & money. Her words summed up all the wonderful memories I have of my childhood Christmases 🎄 ❤️👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🎅
 
I remember years ago taking my Mother to London for a special Christmas outing.Nothing special about that except the train journey was around 6 hours each way, we were as far North as you can get in England! It was her first visit to London, we were so dressed up.The following year my Father joined us and we toured the sights including going into the Houses of Parliament.No barricades, no searches! My last visit to our Capitol was last year and as I had a glass of wine at Euston waiting to escape I thought ’could I ever face another visit’? It now takes just over 2 hours by train although I am slightly further south!
 
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