To be honest I don’t have much to write about over Christmas and New Year.  Christmas day was spent at my brother’s house in York.  My parents collected my Grandma on Christmas eve, she stayed at their house for the night, we went to York about lunch time on Christmas day, and then my parents took Grandma home again that night.  I got to stay at my brother’s for the night.  That was OK in the end.  I was a little worried about how that would go — my brother and I aren’t really all that close, although we do get on well, and I’m not really all that talkative — but it turned out fine.  We played a board game which I won, and my brother’s wife got a little bit tipsy which made conversation go a little more easily.

The plan for New Year’s eve was to go to Leeds and spend the night with my old theatre school friends.  That’s the usual New Year plan and I got an invitation via Facebook to go again this year.  So I said yes.  And then on the day before New Year’s eve I got another message: most of the people I knew who were going to the party were now not going to the party.  I was still welcome to go, but I would only really know one person (actually, I knew 4 or 5 people from previous year, but they aren’t really my friends… one of them I specifically wanted to avoid, in fact).  So I didn’t go.  I stayed in with my parents and played Monopoly.  I won.  The most irritating thing about that is that I had been invited to another party back down here which, had I known about the Leeds party in advance, I would have been able to get back for.  Oh well, we did get a good view of the fireworks at midnight from my parent’s hillside house.  I’m not complaining too much.

I keep thinking I must have forgotten something.  This is despite taking an extra day to get ready.  I had planned to leave on Monday.  That left Saturday to work (more about that some other time), Sunday to finish off the shopping, and pack and the Monday was free for travel.  It didn’t quite work out like that.

I did work on Saturday and I did try to shop on Sunday – in fact I made a special trip across to the Westfield Shopping Centre in London (the new big one which opened just in time for the Christmas rush) – but it was slightly less successful than I had anticipated.  I only had one really important present to buy, something for my Grandma, but despite my best efforts I failed to get her anything.  Admittedly the Westfield was/is not the most appropriate place to look for Grandma type things, but I had hoped it would have something. It didn’t.  So I tried Oxford Street.

The problem with Oxford Street is that if you don’t know what you’re looking for you’re unlikely to find anything you want.  I never know what I’m looking for so I rarely find anything at all.  This time was a very slight exception.  I set out knowing I needed to find something for my Grandma.  This was the important one.  Not the only one, but the most important one.  I’m going to see her on Christmas day – that’s the day after tomorrow – so I needed to find something that day.  But, ah ha!  “Actually, if I don’t find something today I can always find something on Tuesday”.  Great idea, assuming I manage to get home on the day I plan to get home.  Getting home on Monday gives me Tuesday and even, if it’s an absolute emergency, Wednesday to find something.  As you know, I’m only just on the way home now.  Tuesday.  Afternoon.

So, a bit of a success?  Yes.  I managed to buy a present which I didn’t need to buy until after Christmas.  As well as my family I had both Miss T and Miss D on my present list.  Miss T’s reasonably easy – gift vouchers for Dress Circle or something to do with theatre, I also spotted a large Kandinsky calendar – Miss D’s a little harder.  However the mild success came in the form of a desk calendar.  I was in Borders looking around and books and things which Grandma might like when I spotted a table with lots of desk calendars on it.  I didn’t think much to begin with, but then saw a collection of calendars which related to certain countries.  They had little phrases and bits of trivia about the country in question.  I looked and found exactly what I was looking for: one about Spain.  Miss D’s starting a Spanish course with the Open University in February, so this is perfect – it’s only small so she can’t complain I’ve spent too much on her, it fits in with something she’s doing and interested in, and it shows I’m willing to help with her learning.  Great.

Unfortunately that’s all I managed to buy, which still leaves the problem of what to buy my Grandma.  I now have tomorrow.  Just tomorrow.

So here it is, this year’s Christmas shopping list:

• Mum and dad: Garmin nuvi 205w (Halfords, £119.99)
• Brother and sister-in-law: Sony DPF-D70 7″ digital photo frame (PC World, £73.39)
• Grandma: As yet, I’m not sure.  This is usually the way with my Grandma’s present.
• Miss T: Again, I’m not sure yet.  I have either until Tuesday or after Christmas to find something.  I suspect she’ll have to wait.
• Miss D: Just something reasonably small.  Still not sure what yet.

So, as you see, I’m kind of half way there.  I also bought slippers for my mum and will order an enlargement of one of my photos from the Farnborough Air Show which I can frame for my dad’s birthday present.

One thing I did like about today’s shopping trip was the mis-pricing of various things.  Both the slippers and the sat nav were labelled as per the old VAT prices.  Once I got to the checkout they were cheaper.  In the case of the slippers it was only a few pence saving, but the sat nav was a reasonable amount.  All in all, a reasonably successful trip for just a few hours.

I also checked on the bikes Halfords have this season — my parents said they would put some money towards it as my birthday and Christmas present.  There are a few which caught my eye so I think I’ll have to check in again after Christmas and see what’s going on with their sales.

While Deloitte are promising that the stores will all remain open until after Christmas, I’m not sure there will be much left to sell following the weekend.  Given that Woolworths’ problems began when they were unable to obtain credit insurance and so their suppliers were unwilling to give them credit, I don’t see how they will be able to re-stock.  Unless the Woolworths’ four distribution centres are very well stocked, or the intention is that this sale will provide a cash injection to allow the chain to get their delivery chain up and running again, I doubt they’ll find any suppliers willing to work with them.

One thing is certain – the sale has made people flood back into their stores.  I can’t help feel that if they had managed to get this many people in each shop before now they wouldn’t be in the mess they are in.