Many thanks to A Suffolk Girl, Gill, Karen, Ilona, Trudie, Pam, Cro, The domestic storyteller and my friend Mary in Bath for comments yesterday.
Tonight I am absolutely k*******d. Shopping in Ipswich doesn't suit me anymore. Him Outside had to go to Ipswich Hospital to have a 24 hour heart monitor fitted, so it seemed sensible for me to go too and get all the things that I can't get cheap locally, that means a visit to Poundland and Wilkinsons, and Aldi and Asda on the way home.
I had time to have a good look around the town centre walking almost from one end to the other. It was market day on the Cornhill and a stall had huge punnets of grapes and nectarines for £1 each.Wish we had a market like that near here. I browsed all the magazines in WH Smiths where Christmas was the main feature - but what a price they are now. The Grape Tree, which is the reincarnation of Julian Graves was still there so I got some fruit for Christmas puds and cakes. They had a free magazine( just as they had years ago) with a list of all the shops they've reopened since this time last year. 20 so far and 4 more soon, their website is www.grapetree.co.uk. The range of stuff they have is not as big as Julian Graves had- I wanted preserved stem ginger but no luck, but the lady said they were hoping to expand.
Of course I HAD to have a look at the books in The Works. Where much to my surprise I found a copy of a book (Mrs Miles' Diary) from my Amazon wish list, I'd put it on the wishlist as the library didn't have a copy. It only came out in August and the works had it for £1.99. I bought it for myself and have hidden it away for Christmas.After 34 years of marriage I've discovered that the only way to have something to unwrap on The Day is to buy it myself! I also went to M & S for a Christmas present for Him ( necessary underwear - how boring we are!).
Several other Christmas things were bought from Poundland and Aldi, so that I might be able to avoid another trip to Ipswich for several months.
Our quick tour of a few charity shops resulted in Him Outside finding a pair of slippers but no jeans.
As his hospital appointment was midday we did something we've never done before, we crossed the threshold of the big gold arched M place to have a cheap "meal". A voucher fell out of the free paper that I picked up last week, for meals for £1.99 instead of £4.29. Him Outside said we'd got to eat something somewhere, so avoiding the beef burgers we had something vaguely resembling chicken. The fries were hot and the coffee was OK. But I don't think we will bother again! We'll go back to our usual pack-ups.
I've come home with a horrible stiff neck so must have sat in a draught somewhere. I'm sitting typing with my hot wheatbag around my neck in the hope it will help.
I shan't stay up late tonight - not that I ever do- I'm turning more and more into a country bumpkin who hates going to town, it's really worn me out.
Back tomorrow - Library Day!
