I hate to shop. So when I went on a recent but long-awaited trip to the Cotswolds that promised “Time for shopping!” I was less than thrilled.
“It’s free time!” my travel companion said. “You could do anything. Go read a book.”
Of course, I did not follow her advice. Having paid for the experience, I would have all of it – but just go look. Ha!
Instead, off I went – driven by a something-to-remember-this-trip-of-a-lifetime-bytemptation and a need-to-fit-it-in-my-suitcasereality. What I hadn’t expected was that “Time for shopping” there would mean “Time for shopping” here.
My finds were innocent enough – small and inexpensive, or so I thought. A yard or so of blue gingham fabric from an English antiques store, a beautiful greeting card print of a Cotswolds cottage, and the light-weight standby of all travelers – a scarf. It was an impulse purchase from the Blenheim Palace gift shop. (Unfortunately, I was about the miss the van, and only later noticed it was made in China.)
The rub is, I’ve managed to spend the last month and more than the purchase price trying to prove to myself how useful each item is.
The gingham is of course practical only if I transform it into the apron I envisioned, which led me to a sewing shop, which led me to a pattern involving large metal grommets, which have already exceeded the cost of the fabric and a duplicate apron at Williams-Sonoma.
The cottage print would be perfect, I decided, in a simple sage frame with ivory matting, which would bring out the color of the lettering on a housewarming sign I already own (“Home Is Where Your Story Begins”). Perfect since I’d like my story to have begun in such a charming cottage rather than a brick ranch in Georgia. Off to the hobby shop, where of course I discovered that only a custom frame would work to showcase the card, which itself cost only 2.75 pounds.
But the most all-consuming search of all was to find a top to match that oddly beautiful shade of blue in the made-in-China scarf. After hours of local shopping to find this indescribable color, I started scanning the tops of all my women friends, to see if I could come up with a brand name.
When one told me she’d found hers in a store I’d already searched, I almost grabbed the label out of her collar to disprove it. “Maybe it was the outlet store,” she said, and quickly offered directions.
Lest I discourage other travelers who’ll have “time to shop” on summer trips, I should add that sometimes it is possible to find the perfect item on a trip. When that happens, by all means, buy it.
I had not been home a full day before it hit me that one of those “Keep Calm and Carry On” signs would be perfect for an anniversary coming up that week. The couple would think I had bought it on my trip! Having just left a country where the signs were ubiquitous, I was sure I could find one here. Seventeen stores later, I was still empty-handed.
If that’s not a story to relieve shopper’s guilt, I don’t know what is. Go forth and shop.
Copyright 2019 Pat Snyder
