Yawn.. stretch...

Today, on the only Saturday left before present opening starts, I'm heading OUTSIDE (still a novelty) to the germy moshpit of the shopping malls. There is only one reason to go. I need new jeans. I've been losing weight for a while and my jeans are now slinging low in the latest fashion.. for streetwise 14 year olds. At 30-something, I do not think it a good look to have the crotch at mid thigh and the undies showing two inches above the waistband. I do not need to do any xmas shopping because, remembering the last-minute stress of last year, I did all my shopping online and stuff has been appearing on my doorstep for the last few months. This allows enough time left for me to order something else if I decide that the thing I ordered for Caz or Mum turns out to be something I love and need in my own life.

The man of the house, however, embraces an approach that is unapologetically '11th hour'. For a month now I've been reminding him that it might be a good idea to start thinking about xmas gifts but he just responds that he still has 'weeks'. Last week this changed to 'days', as in "but christmas is still days away". Therefore, this morning (ahem, 11.45 is still technically 'morning') we leapt out of bed and, upon investigating the outside world, discovered that it is pissing with rain. That means that there can be no outdoor paving activity today, or any other manly outdoorsy-ness and therefore it is the ideal day to go shopping. This must be male logic, how cute. I know that, because it's raining, the whole of Christchurch will be packed into the three major shopping malls, or losing their little minds circling the carpark like demented carpark sharks, stalking shoppers back to their cars and staking a claim by flipping on the blinker and then settling in for the wait. It's going to be a feeding frenzy out there. Wish me luck!