I had a mission today: to get some new tops suitable for both work and the winter weather and to replace my old work shoes, since they decided to die recently.

I quizzed some of the girls at work about what was available. I was told that knitwear was starting to arrive and there were actually sleeved tops too!

I went in today with high hopes and came home disappointed.

It was really busy in town and I hate crowds and queues. A lot of the clothes I could kind of see myself wearing were not currently available in my size (sold out) or, upon trying them on, I realised that they don’t actually suit me.
Most of the shoes had insanely high heels (I can’t wear a heel at all – my ankles freak out and I end up on the floor), were made for people with stick-thin legs or had foam-like soles (which wear out within a couple of months).

The tops I wanted to buy were supposed to be mainly for work but also something I could wear if I wanted to leave the house for any other reason. I’m a conservative dresser by nature; I don’t do sleeveless, low-cut, above-the-tummy tops anyway, so this should have been an easy task.

Most of the knitwear available was white or nearly white. I’m not a size zero and I have curves; I cannot get away with wearing white or near-white clothes.
I did find a few tops I liked in Primark but the queues put me off; that store is a very large one and the customers were queuing from one end of the store to the other and the cashiers are so bloody slow!

I sulked off to Peacocks and found three tops I liked, two of which were knitted and all three were cowl or roll necks.

My previous pair of work shoes were a pair of fake-Uggs I bought from Primark for £6 about a year ago. They were really comfortable, warm and could be worn both over my trousers and under them. Although it would be nearly impossible to replace these shoes, I was willing to try.

And try I did. I must have gone into all of the shoe and clothing shops in the city centre, instantly “feeling up” the soles and dismissing the soft soled ones (if they’re foam or soft soled, don’t buy them because you’ll wear a hole through them within a couple of months).

I finally ended up with two pairs, both black, both suitable to wear to work.
The first pair are high ones, with a little stripe of fake-fur around the top and along the sides. They have a chunky sole, so they should last me a while. I got them in a cheap shoe shop known as The Shoe Zone. Cheap my arse; they cost £15…but they have a rubber sole, so they’re forgiven. At least I got £s;5 off, I guess. =\
The other pair are like a black version of my sand-coloured Benetton Uggs; medium height, pretty plain to look at and rubber soled. I bought them from Next and got them for a third of the original price, so I’m pretty proud of myself. And. I love them to bits! I wanted to wear them home and I want to wear them now!

Before I got ready for work yesterday, there was a bang on the door. My sister answered it and came back holding a box, which was for me.

I opened the box and look at what was inside:

20 new Beanie Babies, to add to my collection^{^}!

After my excitement had died down a little, the post came. With the post came Roary the Lion:

About ten minutes after waking up today, I could hear rustling coming from the hallway. I peeked around the kitchen door and saw the postman SHOVING a small package through my letterbox. Inside that package was:

Bananas the Orangutan! He was a birthday present for my mum but came a day late. Oh well, better late than never, right?

About an hour after Bananas came through the door, there was a knock. I answered it to see a postman holding a very large box. Inside the box were MORE Beanie Babies:

On Tuesday, my collection looked like this:

Today – Saturday – my collection looks like this:

I love you, eBay^{^}!