Fumes, apples and phones

Now then, I like a bargain wherever possible, particularly in this economic climate so was rather excited to hear of a local clearance sale.  A toiletries factory advertised such an event for the past weekend and promised bargains galore.  Excellent, so off my Mum and I went to do our gift shopping for the next five years.

Hmmmm, okay then, we arrived at the entrance to the car park only to be redirected to the street for parking as room was needed for the ambulance in attendance.  Good start then, so we parked up and I helped the lame lady manoeuvre her dodgy hip across the street and dodged a few cars for good measure.  We joined the end of the queue and expected to soon be through the doors to fill a bag or two with goodies.  This was where our positive expectations ended.  After around twenty minutes some helpful chap arrived with a tray of chocolate biscuits (wrapped ones fortunately to avoid the possibility of catching smallpox from folk breathing on or handling them) and I helped myself to one.  The queue was getting longer by the minute but the people who had been at the front of the line when we arrived were still there as only a certain number were being admitted at a time.  Two people emerged laden down with purchases and chatted to the waiting masses, jovially informing us that the prices were really cheap but there was a long wait to pay. The third person to emerge was on a stretcher having collapsed inside the sale room (at a guess I would say the fumes from the products had got to her as they were along the lines of a chemical warfare attack).  At this point we gave up our places and returned home without any bargains whatsoever.  On a positive note I did comment we had actually saved loads of money by not spending any.  The casualty from the day was smiling as she left and had a good colour so I guess all was well.

My constant bugbear regarding the price of a bag of Granny Smiths has been brought to the surface again this week.  I used to shop at a main supermarket chain for my weekly groceries but when their prices started to change week on week (upwards of course) I changed to another chain and up until now most things have been price matched or cheaper.  However, this week I wandered in to buy a bag of apples to discover they have risen by 32p a bag to £1.92................it is bad enough when prices increase by a penny or two but this was just ridiculous.

I am now off to a budget chain in the next town where the same amount of Granny Smiths in a bag is 99p – if they can do it then there is no reason why the big chains cannot.  An apple is an apple – they all come from the same source and there is no valid reason why prices should vary so much.  Mr Boss-in-charge-of-Supermarkets please note there is an uprising in this town against your prices with more and more people choosing to shop at the budget chains.  At this rate you will no longer have a need to stay open later hours as there will be no customers coming through the doors.  I suggest you bear this in mind when putting your little yellow or white price tags on the shelves.

My mobile phone provider has shown a new level of incompetence.  As most people are aware, there is the opportunity to upgrade a handset before the end of the contract.  I was advised prior to Christmas that I could do this and spent a few days researching which all singing and all dancing model I would opt for.  Okay, so I went online only to find that the date had now changed to January.........oh well, only a couple of weeks, no problem.  January comes around, I go online and.............9^th March is the earliest.  Today I decided to get ahead of the game for next week and, yes, you have guessed it, the date has changed yet again to 18^th April.  I contacted them via a complex and drawn out system of push this and that button, spin on your head three times, perform a Scottish Reel................and eventually I got to speak to someone who advised me that upgrade dates are automatically advised even when a customer doesn’t qualify for that date.  Roll on mid April to see if it actually happens this time.  You couldn’t make it up.