A marathon shopping trip!

Today has been extremely busy as it was the only day I could do the rest of my Christmas shopping, and there was a lot to be done!

Sophie has been collecting food for the foodbank in Kettering, and as well as the shopping we did on Sunday, she'd also received a lot of donations at work. These were all piled up in the conservatory, and I'd said to Sophie that Keith and I would take them over today, first thing this morning when they opened. 

Before we went I wanted a cup of coffee but the Costa outlet at the retail park in Kettering was only doing drive-thru... We decided to drop off the shopping at the food bank first, and then have a coffee. I called ahead and they were delighted that we had lots of items for them:

We had so much stuff it filled the boot of my car, and there was some on the back seat!

We managed to park right outside and took everything in. I told the woman on the front desk it all came from CIWM (the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management) so she made a note in her ledger. 

Once that was dropped off we made our way to the Costa near the A14. There was already a queue of people waiting, and just two staff on duty, one manning the drive-thru, and one on the counter. We all waited patiently, but I could feel the annoyance radiating off the young woman on the counter. She had a face like a slapped bum.

When it was my turn I handed her two bacon baps and asked for two Flat Whites. She apologised for the wait, and as I could see they were very busy, I said it was fine. However, halfway through heating up the baps and making my coffees, I think she had a meltdown and disappeared! I never saw her again! Thankfully, another member of staff emerged from an office and finished my order! This is a perfect example of problems facing a lot of companies at the moment - a lack of staff, probably due to sickness.

As soon as we'd finished our coffees we drove to Jones's. The weather today has been lovely, with blue skies and sunshine, such a rare sight these days! I wanted to get a lot of presents in Jones's so we grabbed a big trolley and off we went. I had been expecting the place to be busy, but there was hardly anyone in there. Well, they have been selling Christmas things since August!

We were mooching about when Sophie texted me to say she had a bad headache (from her booster yesterday?) and could we take some tablets to her at work? I bought a multipack of Ibuprofen, and we went through the checkouts with the stuff we had in the trolley. I hadn't finished so we planned on coming back!

After we'd taken her the tablets we drove to Tesco at Mereway to get her some flowers and Prosecco for Laura, with whom she was having dinner in the evening. Laura has a new job so Sophie wanted to buy her a gift to celebrate. In Tesco, we managed to buy some more presents and a bottle of Pouilly Fume for Christmas Day. It was manic in there (as I'd imagined it would be) so we were very glad to get out!

Before going back to Jones's I called into Homesense for stocking fillers, but after a good look about I only found a couple of things for Sophie! What a waste of time! Back at Jones's, I completed my shopping and we headed to Tesco at Kettering for one last shop. I still hadn't bought anything for Keith! This store was also very busy and I had a long wait at the checkout while the staff tried to prise off a security tag for the shopper in front. I switched to another checkout but ended up being worse off as the woman in front of me had problems with paying. Grrr!!

It was about 4.30pm when we finally arrived back home, so we'd been out for seven hours! Monty must have wondered where on earth we were! Now, all I have to do is wrap everything!

Sophie was out with Laura in the evening and Keith and I offered to give her a lift. She had booked a table at The Rose and Crown in Yardley Hastings, so we drove over with her, and I was glad we did because on the way home the dry weather we'd enjoyed today turned rainy. It was 2c so we were both surprised it wasn't snowing!