I do not shop

I am not a shopper.

I used to be, up until I was about 22 or 23. Back then I shopped too much. (My mother's almost-funny joke was "If you drop Susan in the middle of a forest, she would find a tree she wanted to buy."). But over the years, especially with the explosion of malls and big-box outlets and the loss of the non-chain neighbourhood stores, I completely lost patience with it.

Clothes were always an issue. I am tall, with very long legs and arms and very broad shoulders. Up until I was 29, I weighed under 115. Finding clothes that both fit and suited me was incredibly difficult. I take a size 10 shoe with a combination last (B foot with AA heel), and those are very hard to find in anything other than bug-ugly.

But it is not just clothes and shoes that I hate to shop for. I hate most shopping. I will go out looking for a piece of furniture, some paint, some good bread or almost anything, usually with a very specific idea of what I want or a specific requirement to meet. I find nothing even close, and I very soon (about 2 hours) get beyond frustrated and just go home.

Yesterday, inexplicably, I had the shopping mojo. Every place I went had exactly what I was looking for (or not looking for because I had given up). I got some new jeans for my new waist (31, down from 36: I nearly plotzed!) at the first store I went into. Then some decent rolls and a lovely bowl for my fruit and a matching, perfect butter dish, all in the space of about an hour.

I stopped by at a friend's place around noon and was invited to stay for a barbeque, but I did not dare: the shopping gods don't often bestow their favours on me and I did not dare to laugh at them while they were smiling on me. En route to the grocery store I noticed a couple of stores I did not remember, and I stopped at them on a whim. I found a TV stand that totally met the vision I had held onto for over a year (to replace the wobbly microwave stand I have been using), the perfect unit to hold my scanner (currently residing on a chair in my office) and both of my printers (one still in the box) and a lamp for $10 that was exactly what I needed for a particular place.

I am spending my morning getting my TV and stereo into the stand, and setting up the office electronics, while having coffee with my rolls. And, I may even get into shopping again, if I have another day or two like yesterday.