shopping – T E Shepherd https://shepline.com author | illustrator | digital designer Sat, 14 Dec 2013 15:27:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://shepline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/cropped-shepline-white-on-green-square_512-32x32.jpg shopping – T E Shepherd https://shepline.com 32 32 On the fourteenth day of advent: like queuing for the end of the world https://shepline.com/2013/12/14/on-the-fourteenth-day-of-advent-like-queuing-for-the-end-of-the-world/ https://shepline.com/2013/12/14/on-the-fourteenth-day-of-advent-like-queuing-for-the-end-of-the-world/#respond Sat, 14 Dec 2013 15:27:33 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=5884 I always knew that going to the Post Office on the Saturday before Christmas was going to involve queuing – lots of queuing – but I don’t think my brain had really processed just how long a queue would be involved.

The Post Office in Bicester is a very long, very narrow shop – at the far end of a newsagents – and when we joined the queue we were able to see the doors to Sheep Street better than we could see the counters where we wanted our Christmas stamps. I think I must have been stood there for the best part of 40 minutes in all! But stamps were bought, and international cards posted, even if there was for a moment, a thought going through my head, that I would still be stood there waiting when Neil came to collect me to take me to concert band this afternoon ahead of our concert this evening…

To refuel ourselves after the wait, Emma and I treated ourselves to a sausage roll and a sticky ginger cupcake from the farmer’s market for lunch. 🙂

]]> https://shepline.com/2013/12/14/on-the-fourteenth-day-of-advent-like-queuing-for-the-end-of-the-world/feed/ 0 On the ninth day of advent: twinkling lights and festive joy https://shepline.com/2013/12/09/on-the-ninth-day-of-advent-twinkling-lights-and-festive-joy/ https://shepline.com/2013/12/09/on-the-ninth-day-of-advent-twinkling-lights-and-festive-joy/#respond Mon, 09 Dec 2013 20:12:25 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=5858 A bit more of a quiet day today. Well, that is until this afternoon. Whilst I can’t stand the repeated traipsing round the shops, doing panic-stricken Christmas shopping to get all the presents bought, favouring instead to do much by either a) the internet and the comfort of my own home, or b) something by my own fair hand, I do like to not miss out on the experience of the High Street in December and all those festive lights. Last year Emma and I had a lovely afternoon out in Oxford seeing the lights and this year we decided to do it again.

So we headed into Oxford and visited our favourite shops, and looked in all the nice windows, and picked up a few last things we needed. I had thought there was a Christmas market too in Broad Street, but clearly that had packed up and moved off. What there was in Broad Street but the big, ol’ Coca Cola lorry and Santa Claus and snow falling from the sky (somehow)…

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]]> https://shepline.com/2013/12/09/on-the-ninth-day-of-advent-twinkling-lights-and-festive-joy/feed/ 0 On the sixteenth day of advent: and 9 days to go https://shepline.com/2009/12/16/on-the-sixteenth-day-of-advent-and-9-days-to-go/ https://shepline.com/2009/12/16/on-the-sixteenth-day-of-advent-and-9-days-to-go/#respond Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:24:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/on-the-sixteenth-day-of-advent-and-9-days-to-go/ I am shattered. Have just completed the Christmas food shop. There was a money off voucher for Waitrose deliver in a copy of The Oxford Times that I was looking through in the staff kitchen today, so coupled with free delivery over £75, I snapped it up. Doing the Christmas shop was a little more challenging. On the one hand I’m sure I saved money by not actually being there and being seduced by all manner of offers, but on the other hand I did have a two hour window to complete the order, with the (perceived) stress of having to get it right with so many people to cater for, and wanting to stick to some kind of budget, whilst working with an unfamiliar online shop…

I’ve done it though. Order will be delivered to my house on Friday evening, done and dusted, no queuing for me. And what’s more only 20 quid or so over the normal weekly shop (not counting the turkey from the butcher and various other sundries.

]]> https://shepline.com/2009/12/16/on-the-sixteenth-day-of-advent-and-9-days-to-go/feed/ 0 If ever there was a need for production editors https://shepline.com/2009/09/24/if-ever-there-was-a-need-for-production-editors/ https://shepline.com/2009/09/24/if-ever-there-was-a-need-for-production-editors/#respond Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:14:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/if-ever-there-was-a-need-for-production-editors/ Here be a cautionary tale to entertain a Production Editor. We got a flier through the door to say that Waitrose now deliver in our area and to tempt us there was a money-off offer. It was quite a good offer actually; 30 quid off over three orders: £5 off the first; £10 off the second; and £15 off the third, plus free delivery … so we thought we’d give it a go. We did the deed last night, got though to the check-out – code refused…?!! I phoned them this morning and it turns out that there was a typo in the offer code. It’s working now, and I know what the code is for next time, but how crap is that?

Note: If you live in the Bicester area, you have one of their fliers, and you want to take advantage of the offer, where it says delivery in the offer code just enter deliver followed by whatever number they’ve sent you.

]]> https://shepline.com/2009/09/24/if-ever-there-was-a-need-for-production-editors/feed/ 0 The UnXpected Fear https://shepline.com/2009/02/07/the-unxpected-fear/ https://shepline.com/2009/02/07/the-unxpected-fear/#respond Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:21:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/the-unxpected-fear/ I wasn’t really looking forward to the drive over to Milton Keynes today. This wasn’t, you understand, because of the weather and of icy-snowy roads but because of going to Milton Keynes, to the shops, on a Saturday. As it turned out by the time I got there at around half past ten, the car park was all but empty (of cars that is, of 5-inch snow it was another matter) and the centre was really nice and quiet.

I picked up the suit jacket that had been ordered in and proceeded to the changing rooms (now branded as ‘Now Try it On’ areas…). The first couple of assistants to help me I didn’t really gell with – maybe it was because they were going oh no to my favourite suit of two weeks ago. But then a nice man called David, with a stick, turned up and he was very helpful. Bizarrely he was saying the same as the ladies but my brain seemed to gell with his opinions better. I was there for about an hour or an hour and a half in the end, have changed my original decision and gone for this little number.

On the way back to the car I bought a small valentines present for Emma and then slid around the car park to the exit. I’m glad I came over when I did because by the look of the queues on the roads it was beginning to get busy.

Upon arriving home, Em was back from work so I gave her a fashion show of my choice and she was very happy with it. 🙂

]]> https://shepline.com/2009/02/07/the-unxpected-fear/feed/ 0 On the twelfth day of advent https://shepline.com/2008/12/12/on-the-twelfth-day-of-advent/ https://shepline.com/2008/12/12/on-the-twelfth-day-of-advent/#respond Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:46:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/on-the-twelfth-day-of-advent/ Leaving work today, I met up with Em and her sister in Blackwells and we wandered amongst the Christmas lights of Oxford and we did some festive shopping and bought traditionally over the top decorations for our first cake. Then we headed back home for a nice meal and a bit of Friday night tele.

]]> https://shepline.com/2008/12/12/on-the-twelfth-day-of-advent/feed/ 0 Surreal Shopping https://shepline.com/2008/08/23/surreal-shopping/ https://shepline.com/2008/08/23/surreal-shopping/#respond Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:48:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/surreal-shopping/ With our move a month away (and one week of that taken out for our Snowdonia holiday) Em and I decided that we really ought to get a move on with doing some preliminary research for house-type purchases. To this end we headed out to John Lewis on the Handy Cross roundabout and therein had a slightly surreal time wandering round trying out beds and sofas and looking at kitchens with the knowledge that its not just idle dreaming but that we can actually buy stuff (my mum and dad announced recently that they wanted to buy us a new bed and three-piece suite as a wedding/house-warming present).

But we are sensible. We have a list of things to look for, and then regroup in the canteen over tea and cake to add up our potential purchases to make sure we’re not overspending. We’re not, even by going for the expensive but very comfortable Vi-Spring mattress with the Touch of PineOak bed.

Choosing a sofa became a bit more complicated – having to move backwards and forwards across the shop to try and try again, in turn our shortlist of two sofas before finally, definitely, settling on the Indiana range … maybe.

We browsed some new shades for my lamps (they needed to be replaced anyway) and indulged ourselves in some cute new bedside lanterns reduced to half-price before we got to the real indulgence.

If we are to go to Namibia on honeymoon next year then we want to make sure we capture some good photographs of the time there. I’ve also long wanted one of these, and with Grandpa’s money I have the funds, and since he had a love of photography and his own developing it would also be appropriate, and so I visited the camera department, chatted to a very helpful person there, and bought (for both Emma and I) a Nikon D80 DSLR camera with 18-135mm lens. Very nice! 🙂

]]> https://shepline.com/2008/08/23/surreal-shopping/feed/ 0 Shopping Seduction https://shepline.com/2008/03/22/shopping-seduction/ https://shepline.com/2008/03/22/shopping-seduction/#respond Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:23:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/shopping-seduction/ I needed a new waterproof jacket, and Emma wanted to see a bit more of Salisbury (or was it that I wanted to show it to her?), and so it was that we headed into town after breakfast. In the end we both bought new jackets – although it should be said that they are not matching his and hers. Whilst on the quest for egg cosies (you try looking for them, and if you do find them, are they nice?) we stumbled upon The India Shop. In this shop I found myself seduced by some stone coasters inlaid with shells. Looking for the price I was surprised to find them just over a tenner and so naturally candle holder had to be bought too. They will go very well with Em’s slate place mats. Once bought, they were wrapped up beautifully and given to me in a bag made from recycled Indian newspapers.

]]> https://shepline.com/2008/03/22/shopping-seduction/feed/ 0 53 days until Christmas https://shepline.com/2007/11/02/53-days-until-christmas-2/ https://shepline.com/2007/11/02/53-days-until-christmas-2/#respond Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:11:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/53-days-until-christmas-2/ Apparently the exchange rate from pounds to dollars is at its highest for 27 years. What amused me was hearing the English woman interviewed saying that with so many good deals around she wished she’d brought a bigger suitcase. Hang on a minute, with the exchange as good as it is, just buy a new suitcase and ditch the old one!!

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/11/02/53-days-until-christmas-2/feed/ 0 Silver Treats https://shepline.com/2007/04/21/silver-treats-2/ https://shepline.com/2007/04/21/silver-treats-2/#respond Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:48:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/silver-treats-2/ With all that’s going on in my life at the moment, I figured that I needed a bit of a treat. So today I splashed out some of last month’s bonus (apart from sensibly paying off remaining bits of the credit card this was the first time I’ve used any of it), and bought a new camera. Technically speaking I ‘bought’ it earlier in the week, but today it arrived. It’s sleek and slender and utterly splendiferous! 😉

Fuji FinePix Z5
Fuji FinePix Z5
Originally uploaded by shepline on 22 Apr ’07, 9.56pm BST PST.
Yes, there is a totally useless illuminated logo on the front of the camera when you turn it on, but it is a very good camera. 6.3 megapixels, and a 3x Optical Zoom that is cunningly internal to the camera and mounted vertically, it takes excellent pictures in even the lowest of light levels.
Fuji FinePix Z5
Fuji FinePix Z5
Originally uploaded by shepline on 22 Apr ’07, 9.57pm BST PST.
I then walked into Bicester and bought a new bike. It still has to have the additional mud-guards fitted but I was able ride it home and ride it around. It’s very comfortable, and I think, going to be very useful – and hopefully allow me to lose some of this tummy that I’ve picked up.
New Bike
New Bike
Originally uploaded by shepline on 22 Apr ’07, 9.53pm BST PST.

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/04/21/silver-treats-2/feed/ 0 Getting with the technological change https://shepline.com/2003/02/25/getting-with-the-technological-change/ https://shepline.com/2003/02/25/getting-with-the-technological-change/#comments Tue, 25 Feb 2003 08:38:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=11 I’ve succumbed and entered the DVD age. Well, when you realise you can get a pretty decent, above average (though not top the range by any means) DVD player worth £180 for just fifteen quid and 20, 000 Nectar points, then why not?!!

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