There is a phenomenon that affects every woman at this time of year. It’s called holiday shopping madness. And every single woman suffers from it. That thing where for some strange reason you buy new knickers to take on holiday.
Not to mention, new toothbrushes, new vest tops, new bloody everything, even though you have a drawer full of acceptable knickers, you’ve got enough vest tops to give Primark a run for its money ( why wouldn’t you at £1.80 a time?), and a bathroom cabinet with a perfectly good new toothbrush hiding inside. But you still buy a new pack of 2.
This is apart from, of course, all the new ‘proper’ holiday clothes you buy because…..well just because you are going on holiday.
Why do we do this? The people we see on our holiday don’t know us, they won’t have seen our ‘old’ clothes before, they won’t see our new clothes again. They won’t know if they are new, or old in the first place. Why does it matter?
I’ve just become a victim of holiday shopping madness. Though mine extends not only to visiting my favourite high street stores, but also includes hours of online browsing new and second-hand items that I’m sure to need.
I’m on first-name terms with the lady in the Co-op where I collect my Vinted parcels and my dog no longer barks at the eBay delivery man.
But I’m just counting the cost, and wondering why I’ve spent so much money on clothes for a 1 week’s holiday in Greece when none of it will be appropriate for the lifestyle I lead during the other 51 weeks of the year in Essex.
Apart from the very occasional ‘out out’ outing, my lifestyle is extremely routine and predictable. The only things I have to ‘dress’ for are dog-walking and food shopping. I am actually a trainee happily hibernating hermit!
My dress code consists of jeans tops and trainers for dog walking, and …..for shopping, errrr, better jeans, better tops, and better trainers. When I’ve achieved all that, outdoor clothes get ripped off and PJs get put on.
Just like every other woman does.
The other peculiar thing about our pre-holiday shopping behaviour is that our purchases will stay in the carrier bags until the last minute. Never would we dream of wearing our newly purchased holiday clothes before we go on holiday.
The fact that we could wear them, wash them, iron them and pack them in our suitcase and nobody would even know is completely beside the point.
WE WOULD KNOW!
For myself, I’m organised and ahead of the game. I’m not going on holiday until mid-September, and I’m not going to Iceland. Once the children go back to school, the shops will be stocking Christmas jumpers and snow boots.
Trying to do holiday shopping or buy summer sandals in September is futile. You know it.
But what this does mean is that my newly purchased gladrags will stay in the carrier bags for the next 6 weeks, then they will see the light of day for just one week, and by the time I return it will be nearly October, and time to retrieve the scarves and long sleeve jumpers from the loft.
My only consolation is the year-round use I get from those aforementioned £1.80 vest tops. In summer yes they are strappy summer vest tops to wear with shorts.
In winter though it’s a different story, we all revert to childhood and they become that comfy top we wear under our itchy jumpers. Nobody will ever, ever admit it, but we are actually wearing a vest.
I haven’t mentioned my preferred attire for the scorching heat we are experiencing in the UK at the moment. Well, no floaty sun dresses, sweaty swimming costumes, or revealing bikinis for me – oh no!
Behind my closed doors, and in the garden too as it happens, it’s just ‘vest and knickers’ all day long for me, I’ll get my money’s worth out of them one way or t’other.