Two down...

It has been an expensive day.

First, I got my washing machine repaired, which was actually a nice cheap job, as compared with what it could have been.

Second, I got my car repaired, which was a rather more expensive proposition, albeit far less expensive than the potential alternative of being stopped by the police and being told that three of my tyres were illegal (oh, and here's a nice fine, and nine points for your license...), or worse, finding that my brakes weren't entirely working at a vital moment.

So, that was some £300 gone.

En route to getting the car back, I also stopped in the town to pick up a bunch of things. This proved to be unwise when I found myself carrying my shopping the two miles from the underground to the garage, but I didn't really thing about that at the time...

First up was a trip to pick up some new shirts and trousers. White shirts are a constant pain - they last a few months at best before the nice clean white has become a mucky dull grey. And although I've been wearing jeans and t-shirt to work in recent months, I'm now leaning to the view that to be taken more seriously I should look the part, what with the apparel making the man, and all.

So, £50 there.

I also sought to replace my trainers, but nothing came of that. Then there was a trip to pick up some new shoes, replacing the ones I have been wearing for the past six years (although not constantly, it should be noted).

On arrival, I was confronted with a sign stating that if you buy one stickered shoe, you could get the second for only £5. Initially, I thought it was a bit rough charging for each shoe individually, since surely one would always want to buy two together, but it turned out that it was stickered pairs of shoes.

However, this created something of a dilemma. See, women are entitled to own as many shoes as they can, and to regale whoever will listen with endless anecdotes about strappy sandals, sparkly shoes, ruby slippers, and what-not. However, Man Law clearly states that Men are limited in the number of shoes they can wear, with footwear divided by function. So, it is permissible to own a set of trainers for general use, a second set for sports, dress shoes, hiking boots, ghillie brogues (for ceilidh use), and so forth, but purchasing two sets of formal shoes at one time...

On the other hand, it was a money-saving scheme. Tricky.

Anyway, £35 later saw me the owner to two pairs of new shoes, one a nice matt black (for work use), and the second a nice glossy black (for formal occasions). Thus far, no-one has come to take away my Man Card, so I guess I'm still allowed to open jars and stuff.

I had to pick up a present for Paul. Not much to report here, except that I have now done so.

Then, with some time to kill, I decided to just pop in to Waterstones to have a browse. Only to find that book 5 of "Legacy of the Force" is now in paperback, so I bought that, and books 6 and 7 (both of which were always paperbacks - don't ask; I don't understand it either). But book 5 had a "buy 2 get 1 free" sticker, where neither 6 nor 7 did, so I had to add to that two other books, those being compilations of Lankhmar and Elric stories, by Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock, respectively.

So, another £30 there.

On the way home, while still reeling from all this expense, I stopped at Asda and picked up some mushrooms. They weren't terribly expensive, but do mean I will be able to cook that lasagne tomorrow.

Anyway, that's two of the four things I had to do during my week off finished. Maybe tomorrow I'll mow the lawn, or even dare cleaning the bathroom...