Last week was incredibly busy, but the upside was that I completed most of the Christmas preparations. All the cards and parcels have been made and sent, all presents wrapped - this is surprisingly time consuming.
On Tuesday afternoon I went over to Macarthur Glenn, near Bridgend, which is an out of town retail park which specialises in discount stock. On the way I got caught in the most ferocious hail storm and lightning which made the motorway visibility very poor. I got the last few things there for gifts - but wasn't particularly impressed. Most of my shopping this year has been done via the net, and this is simpler, often cheaper and much less hassle. I've bought a few things in town from shops like L'Occitane and John Lewis - but these are both stores with excellent customer service who really look after their customers.
At Macarthur Glenn, shop assistants were disengaged, with no eye contact, clueless about stock and about as festive as a soggy walnut. I went into Austin Reed - they do great "classic" menswear and I've often bought from their main store in town for Andrew, particularly their dress shirts, ties etc. I found a beautiful tie, a shirt and some attractive cufflinks. Nobody offered any help even though the shop was deserted, and when I got to the counter, the shop assistant had his sleeves rolled up displaying a fine array of rather wobbly tattoos, and was chewing gum. I asked for a gift sleeve for the tie (something I've been offered routinely in their main store) and he looked like I'd asked for a diamond encrusted jockstrap. He then muttered that a lot of customers had asked about them, but he didn't think they had any. As today's young folk would say, EPIC FAIL! A real shame since they had some gorgeous tweed jackets too, and if the service had been good I'd have seriously thought about taking Andrew back there in the New Year. Ironically this was the same day that Mary Portas released her report on to the plight of the high street and how to reinvigorate shopping. Well, the first priority has to be to get customer service right. What's annoying about AR too is that they are not a cheap brand - and I'm guessing most of their customers will be older/middle aged customers who aren't looking for "fast fashion" or a "pile it high" approach. They really should be better than this.
Another minor irritant related to the charging for bags. I took my own with me but wanted a bag in the Cadburys shop where I bought some festive selection boxes for the nephews plus a few other stocking fillers. I accept (grudgingly) that I have to now pay for a bag - however, the bag was made of the flimsiest possible plastic and as the assistant shoved the items into it, (again no care taken) the bag split and broke, meaning that she then had to put the whole thing inside another one, which barely made it back to the car. If a charge has to be made, at least make it fit for purpose. The whole experience was miserable and just made me glad I'd done so much while sitting comfortably in my pyjamas at home, sipping a coffee, and receiving goods promptly, usually beautifully wrapped.
Thursday I made two big batches of fudge, one white chocolate and cranberry, the other chocolate and coconut. These have been chopped up and put into some lovely gift bags I got from Ikea and have been given to various people over the last few days.
On Friday, James our nephew arrived while I was at work (my last shift before Christmas). On Saturday morning he and Andrew took the dogs for a walk while I baked some bread rolls (spelt and oatmeal), then when they returned we all had a plate of bacon and eggs, with rolls warm from the oven and home made marmalade to follow. Lovely. Then it was time to get ready for the Greyhound Welfare Christmas show. James is now an old hand at these (along with Boola, his compadre) and we arrived in good time. James entered the Best Hound class, Best Child Handler, Best Veteran, Best Rescue and Best Matched Pair. To our delight, James won the Best Child Handler class, and was awarded a gorgeous festive red rosette, which he immediately pinned on his hoodie.
He then got a Fourth place in Best Veteran, and a Second in Best Matched Pair, when he donned his elf costume and Boola put on his festive outfit. I had actually prepared these for the Christmas show last year, but the heavy snow prevented the event from taking place. It was quite noticeable that James had grown a lot since last year, when he put the costume on. Anna the judge (who also makes the rosettes for the GW shows) looked (and sounded) wonderful, as she had donned a home made green elf costume complete with jingling bells on the points of her skirt and on the curls of her shoes.
When we got home, Boola decided it was time for a well earned snooze and James called home and to his grandparents to share the day's good news. We had a relaxing evening, with an enjoyable meal - Andrew did a turkey and leek pie, with James then choosing a film to watch before bed.
On Sunday, Andrew took James, the dogs and a big haul of gifts (including fudge, sloe gin and preserved lemons) in the car, and headed for the old Severn bridge where he was meeting Basil and the other two boys before heading off to the greyhound field. The boys really enjoyed watching the dogs doing zoomies and it was good for Basil and Andrew to catch up and swap news. At the end of the hour slot, Basil took the boys home and Andrew returned home with the dogs.
I stayed at home when Andrew went as I was heading off on my own adventure. Penny my friend had told me earlier in the year that she was doing part of the finale display at Olympia (annual Christmas show jumping festival) and this made me think about going up to see it. I mentioned it to my friend Helen and she was keen to go, so off we went. We drove up and the M4 was pretty quiet and we made good time. Frustratingly we couldn't access the pre booked parking space we had reserved until at least 5.40 so this meant by the time we'd parked and got into the venue, we didn't have a lot of time to look round the shopping village or to meet Penny as we'd hoped. The shopping village was awesome - full of every conceivable requirement for the lover of horses, and with plenty for dog lovers too. I bought a greyhound coat for Andy as he is too big for the ones we had from Paula. Then it was into the arena for the evening performance which was amazing and spectacular.
We loved the Kennel Club dog agility final and the Shetland Pony Grand but the real highlight was the Lusitano riders who did the most breathtaking display of dressage and riding on these amazing and wonderful horses. Helen of course was thrilled since she has two of this breed herself and is very knowledgeable about them - I loved the dressage performance and the amazing ride with the flaming torches - quite dreamlike and stunning.
Then we enjoyed some top class showjumping - our seats had an excellent view and we were practically close enough to touch the riders. The seats themselves were astonishingly uncomfortable - seemingly designed for midgets. I'm only 5'5" and my knees were under my chin and my left thigh is still hurting today after the way the seat kept digging in. Poor Helen, who's now five months pregnant, also found it uncomfortable especially as she is much taller than me.
After the showjumping, which flew by, the finale took place . There were Camelot inspired knights on foot, children on ponies, a wizard, various monks in a carriage (??), Penny's guys doing some jousting, (and it was great to see and recognise Joe in the ring) followed finally by that well known star of Arthurian legend, Father Christmas. By this time, we'd abandoned any attempt at a coherent narrative so just enjoyed the spectacle. It finished with the whole arena on its feet singing carols while Father Christmas and the others paraded round the ring, with snow falling. Amazing.
Then it was back to the car and time to head for home. The sat nav threw a major strop but fortunately it was easy to find the A4 and back on to the M4. We got back around 1.45 a.m. and yesterday I was shattered but feeling very happy and festive. Tonight is the library Christmas meal so more Christmassy fun and frolics.
