The Holiday In A Nutshell

Be warned! It's a very long post.

I've been neglecting my blog for quite sometime now. It's not that I have nothing to write. It's just that I've been preoccupied during the last two weeks holiday starting from Christmas Eve right up till New Year. It'll be a stale story to some but I've been itching to reminisce it so allow me.

Before I babble non-stop, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy New Year. May it be more prosperous, joyful, filled with love, peaceful and fruitful in some ways.

How did I spend my two weeks holiday?? That used to be a favorite essay title among my BM and English teachers during my primary school heydays. The normal response would be
1) Went to the seaside.
2) Went back to kampung to meet grandpa and grandma
3) Got chicken pox (or some other miserable disease for the unfortunate ones)
4) Stayed at home and do nothing

But now... I can say that my holiday was spent by roaming England from top to bottom in search of a good Boxing Day sale. Yupp... you read me right folks! My boxing day sale hunt did not stop at 2359 hrs on 26/12/04. Instead, it went on and on and on for two whole weeks with a break or two in between.

Righteo...

26/12/04:
After the phone call to my brother, I had a moment of silence (sedekahkan Al-Fatihah actually and say thank you to God because my family was well okay). Then, it was off to Meadowhall in Sheffield. It's a huge shopping mall but nothing compared to Trafford Centre la kan (Rini is SOOOOOO lucky for she has this shopping mecca at her beck and call). We hit Debenhams in my quest to find the Kitchenaid Chef Mixer at a low cut price but to no avail. It's still at £299. I wonder how much is it in Malaysia?? I spotted and tried some pants and got a lovely pair but the queue to the till was utterly horrendous! So I ditched the pants somewhere along Jasper Conran and Warehouse for I couldn't bear to queue for half an hour just for a pair of pants. Forget it!

Zareef was getting cranky so that was the end of Debenhams for me. It was too damn crowded. We mad a beeline for Gap and got Zareef a couple of turtlenecks. Then it was on to Mothercare which btw had a huge sale. B went totally crazy in there and bought like 8 bajus for his son. There were all little kiddo's favorite; Bob, Little Robots, Noddy and Thomas. I added a swimming trunk for Zareef.

Then we just went in and out from one store to another. Most of the good stuffs were gone. I was there at 11 am. What time did these people get here? 5?? Osh Kosh at Boots were on half price but the famous sizes ceased to exist. Damn these people are quick!!

At 5 pm we left Meadowhall because the place was about to close. That's another crappy thing about shopping during winter time. All stores close early.

27/12/04:
We hit Bicester Village in Oxfordshire. It's a factory outlet designed for the rich, super rich and filthy rich. The brands range from Clarks, Timberland, Wedgwood for the rich; Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Villeroy and Boch for the super rich; and last but not least Salvatorre Ferragamo, Bally, Versace, Charles Jourdan, Penhaligon and La Perla for the filthy rich. Us??? We're the country bumpkins who perasan themselves to be filthy rich.

My main aim was to get a handbag at Ferragamo. I went in and saw a sea of people mainly consisting of Asians. Yupp... there were Japanese, Hongites, Indians and Melayus!! Yes people. Half of Ferragamo was filled with melayu. They were grabbing bags and shoes like nobody's business. Damn these people are rich for they did not only buy one bag or a pair of shoes. Instead, they borong all the available bags, shoes and clothes available in the store and left me with none! Whallau!! Gila babi datin2 nih shopping. B siap cakap "Kita datang some other time la when it's out of season. At least you don't have to settle for their saki-bakis".

I was sooo tak puas hati. I badly wanted a handbag. So I went in to the less famous stores like DKNY and Ck. A bag in Ck caught my eye. Price wasn't too bad compared to Ferragamo. It was down to £75 from £200. So what the heck. Paid for it and came out from the store with a broad smile on my face. B said he could see it (the smile and the carrier bag) a mile away.

Timberland's sale was outrageous. Pants and shoes were were 50% off. I took the liberty of adding Zareef's shoe collection by buying him two pairs (£12 from £55) and myself a pair (£20 from £60). Alas for B, it wasn't his lucky day. Timberland is his all time favorite but all of his sizes were gone be it pants or shoes. It's either too big or too small. His must be the popular size of half of the population of Great Britain.

Zareef didn't take it too well to shopping. He was strapped to the stroller but he didn't want to go in to any of the stores. He'll shout and cry "Nak keluar! Nak keluar!" at the top his voice which is kinda embarassing. Luckily B was such a gem and took Zareef for a stroll while I shop. At 4, I called it quits as it was freezing and daylight bailed out. I went home a very happy woman.

27/12/04:
Stayed home for a breather. B took the opportunity to finish up his work at the office.

28/12/04:
We went to MacArthur Glen in York. Thank God it was indoors so we could make do without our jackets. They had Nine West, Giorgio Armani and Guess. GA and Guess were still expensive even after discounts although there were £10 Guess jeans for stick thin people. Very depressing indeed! But I went stir crazy in Nine West. I bought 3 pairs of shoes for £5 each!!! Imagine that! I fell in love with a kitten heels, a pump and a mule. Hihihi... funny names they have there. On top of that, I bought two more shoes for Zareef (they were £5 from £50) and a pair for myself.

29-31/12/04:
Spent it resting at home. My credit card took a hard beating from my spending. I didn't even go to the NEXT sale. Amazing, eh?!

New Year's eve was spent quietly at home with Zareef in my arms and I in B's. We waited (or it's more of B coz I was already asleep by then) for the countdown on the telly. I kissed both Zareef and B with hope for a lovely future together.

1/1/05:
A friend had a gathering at her house. It was good spending New Year Day with friends. She had a potluck thing going on. I made cheesecake. We stuffed ourselves full with nasi beriani, laksam, apple pie, jellies, banana cake, carrot cake and fruits.

2/1/05:
A long break is not complete without a visit to Stoke. Yiehaaa... my all time favorite!! First we went to Portmeirion. I wanted to complete my Amabel Rose and Amabel Tartan. Bought 8 dessert plates and 16 coffee cups and saucers. I have always loved their jams so this time I bought 3 flavors; raspberry, strawberry and peach.

B forbid me from going to Wedgwood because he said that I've just spent a fortune there. True. So we just drove past Wedgy (nih ikut Nong's nickname) with me looking forlornly but it wasn't for long. As soon as we reached the Doulton Superstore, all woefullness were gone. It was very uplifting to see rows after rows of chinas arranged on shelves, tables and even on the floor (that's your Rose Garland, Nong).

I had always wanted the Old Country Roses (OCR) from the start but they were too expensive plus B said it was more of an old lady's kinda taste. His was the Frivolous Blue and we did buy a supper set of 6. So, I suppressed my longing for OCR for three years before I finally made my stand with an extra cash to boot to buy it. I bought a large teapot, 6 teacups and saucers, a 2-tier cake stand and two 1-tier cake stands. It made me £115 poorer but I was a million times euphoric.

3/1/05:
It was back to work.

It's all back to normal now. Trying to save every penny that I earn for the next shopping trip in Easter plus we're planning a trip to Paris (again! I can never get enough of this enchanting city) and EuroDisney in May. So I'll be make do with tightening my purse for now.