I WANNA GO FAST

Thumbs up, ready to roll!

I used to hate sale shopping. Trawling through piles of unfolded clothes in the vain hope that the size I wear is hidden amongst the mess somewhere. Being eyed by the person who noticed that you found the last top in their size as they use their death stare to try and convince you that you don't want said top after all. Realizing that the size you need is on display in the window, and therefore not for sale in the first place. The queue's, the pushing, the endless trawling through racks of things that nobody liked before the sale signs went up.

Give me a neat and tidy shop any day. One where piles of t-shirts are crisp and clean and preferably in size order. Where I can walk right in and find what I'm looking for, crowd free. In this environment I'm much less likely to be tempted to use my daughters push chair as a weapon for ramming bolshy old ladies. (Also, I should say that my shopping days are pretty much over regardless- Dental school and a tantrum throwing toddler put the kybosh on that.)

Imagine my delight when Ryan told me that our favourite store for browsing and never buying was throwing a garage sale. One waits in a big long line to walk into a small little room that is full of things that people didn't want. Dusty rock climbing shoes, worn but not liked. Heart rate monitors, minus straps and instructions. Tents that may or may not be missing poles. All dramatically discounted, and conveniently, non returnable. Tables lined with tubs of items that had been used and returned and really weren't much good to anyone. 

As we queued with folk who were just brimming with excitement to see what treasures awaited them, I remained skeptical. Was it really worth standing in line and making uncomfortable small talk with strangers? But then the doors opened and everything changed. Sitting right there in front of us was a beautiful bike trailer. I think it must have been placed under a spotlight because it looked so bright and wonderful. And since  someone crazy enough to buy it at full price had used it for a day and decided it was too much like hard work, it could be ours for 20% of what they paid for it. Stars aligned. For the first time I got a glimpse of the bargain shoppers buzz. 

Since then we've been on many a bike ride, especially nice since petrol is a huge rip off. Now we don't have to drive to the park, which besides the supermarket is pretty much  the only place we go.  Charlotte is a fan, and usually once we get to the park she's more interested in trying to climb back into the trailer than actually having a go on the swings. It's fun to listen to her as I cycle along, making her  'woof' noise as we pass grannies walking their dogs. My favourite is when she sits there shrieking 'go, go, go!' as I pedal uphill, which is virtually all of the time given where we live. She's definitely a good motivator. I've had to hide her helmet when we're not using it,  because if Charlotte finds it she follows me around carrying it with a forlorn 'please won't you take me outside' look on her face.

The problem with sales is that the thing I'm looking for is never marked down; somehow I'm magnetically drawn to the one thing in a shop that's still sporting the full price on the tag. It's going to be a while before the novelty of this particular bargain wears off, which I'm sure is for the best, since magical finds like the trailer are few and far between.