Pfft...

Since coming back from our break away in November, things have conspired to keep us away from shopping for the last few remnants of Christmas shopping that we need to buy, including getting anything to eat.  KT has been laid out with 'man flu' and I've been looking after him and getting myself all bunged up all at the same time. We attempted to get a few things on Saturday (I know! I told him it would be insane, but he insisted) and were hopeful, after bagging a parking space on the second attempt, that we might have half a chance of getting at least half of what we needed. Not a hope in Hell. Town was packed, mostly it seemed, with the dregs of the barrel. Seriously, I don't consider myself better than anyone else, but whole gangs of Chavvy families roaming round and feeding their kids Flumps for lunch is just too much. There is no excuse, in this day and age, to feed your kids junk food when out and about; not only are there plenty of affordable place to get Good Food from, or you can take a pack up in with you - my children are more than happy to sit on a bench and eat home prepared rolls or this cabbage salad thing I sometimes make. I am almost always completely skint and I flatly refuse to let the kids dine on a bag of Doritos and can of Coke for a meal! It seems as though the country is slowly de-evolving and it saddens me that my grandchildren, if I have any, will grow up in this society, and believe me, if the majority of little kids running around Ipswich Town Centre last Saturday grow up to be anything like their parents (standing in large groups, loudly 'debating' and swearing; naked, bloated bellies erupting over large belts, talking 'Wigga' and chain smoking), it's going to be a very Sucky Monkey world indeed.

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post. We needed to get new school shoes for both the twins - H has done brilliantly and hers have last two! years,but the soles on J's, from August, were falling off. J also needed new school trousers. Well, in the hour we were in, we managed to get the shoes, but no trousers. We all also managed to get bumped, many times, barged into, rammed with buggies and generally, quite stressed. We gave that end of town a miss and decided to head to the other end and let the girls loose with some money for trousers. We parked up and listened to the footie on the radio, whilst watching a never-ending queue of people try to escape from the car park next to us. Much more amusing than anything else we'd witnessed in a while, but the couple in a silver SEAT who hurtled down the road and almost rammed one car before narrowly missing a pedestrian because, it appeared, they were late for a hair appointment at the trendy studio next to where we were, appalled us. No trousers were found, so we decided to go home.

We tried again yesterday, without the girls. We had a very specific order of shops to visit and all started well. We headed for the first shop and joined the two sets of Mum, Grannie and buggy that were waiting for the lift. It finally arrived and the first trio went in - the second, not only decided that then was a good time for Grannie to take the occupant of the buggy out so the two of them could go up the escalator, but Mum decided that as she wasn't going in the lift that time, neither were we. The first trio held the door but the second Mum wouldn't let us past. Eurgh. KT and I discussed her actions quite loudly and when she swung her buggy round for two seconds I used to opportunity to get closer so we were first in line. I even considered closing the lift on her for two seconds, but that would have been completely petty and far too much like the kind of thing everyone seems to do these days. We wandered from shop to shop and as town got busier, we decided it was time to go home, we could always get the last bits tomorrow. We got to the van, noticed we had more than enough time to collect the twins from school as they were expecting and were feeling pretty good. That was until, when the van was going through it's pre-journey test check, KT pushed the brake forward and there was a loud snapping noise. The lights that go out when everything is fine, did not go out and a loud siren beeped insistently. We looked each other and wondered what on Earth the snap had been and KT switched off and tried again. It failed. I got out and went round to his side to check and see what things looked like in the box where the brake/accelerator lever goes. Everything looked fine, but a third go at starting up produced the same whining bleep as before. By now, we were going to be late for the children, so I tried calling the school... only to have the battery die. Have you any idea, just how difficult it is to find a public phone these days? Here in Ipswich and Felixstowe, it's especially hard - back in Northampton, I would have known where to find one, but there wasn't a phone to be found. There was nothing else for it. KT tried the brakes and they worked so we drove home a tad more slowly then we would have done. I managed to get my phone to switch on, but it wouldn't make a call without dying, so I turned it on and left it. Thankfully, we got a call, from KT's flat, which meant the girls were home, safely, so I could stop worrying about them. 

KT called the people who adapted the van when we got back. They confirmed that they think a brake cable has snapped, but they have no-one available to collect it, which means KT's dad will have to drive it all the way there on Friday morning. The darned thing was only there a month ago for it's MOT and that cost a bomb - now it's got to go again. It also means I have had to cancel dentist, doctor, nurse appointments and we have to figure out how on Earth we are going to get to the church on Thursday for the school Christmas Concert. KT's battery wont last for a toodle that far and there aren't many adapted taxis about. Hopefully, the van will back in working order quickly on Friday as the twins are supposed to be present and correct at the Scout's carol service on Friday evening. It also means we can't go shopping again until at least next week - which means raiding the cupboards - oh well, at least they'll be cleared out for a decent shop - if we have money left over after the bill for this cable!