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Went shopping in town for the first time in about six weeks today. I am now the owner of a new pair of boots (without holes), a new pair of trousers (without holes) and a new sleeping bag (wi... no wait, with one hole and a zip).
New sleeping bag is new, and warm. It's a nice 3-season mummy-bag, and fairly cheap: the only problem I've found so far is that it doesn't really pack down too small, but I think that's a function of it's size. Y'see, mummy bags that fit me are thin on the ground. I'm shaped like the men on my mother's side of the family: quite compact and bulky, and consequently most mummy bags don't do up at the waist, hips or belly. This one (a Eurohike Adventurer 300 XXL) is a full ten centimetres bigger around than most, and consequently does the job rather well.
Now, when I go to camp in a field in April, I won't freeze overnight (since my old 'bag wasn't really that suited to outdoor use). The lack of tent may still prove an issue, but I hope to fix that soon.
One of the things about birthdays is that immediately after them, you tend to have a certain amount of disposable income. This is rarely bad, so yesterday I hit the town on the way back to my house. Two goals; get new boots to replace the ones that have split down the side, and get new blades for my electric shaver, which now tickles my face gently but doesn't cut a single hair.
I've been buying boots from the army surplus on Preston Circus for several years now, since they're tough, pretty reliable and comfortable. This time, I went to Col. Mike's, in the North Laine instead. They are to be recommended, since their range of boots is about six times larger (among other things). I left with a really nice, tough, comfortable pair of British Army patrol boots for £50. While that's 20 more than I'd pay at Bruton's, in Preston Circus, these boots feel much better built, so we'll see what happens.
Unfortunately, shaver blade shopping was a failure. It would seem that Philips don't even produce blades for this unit any more (although, to be fair, it is over ten years old now). Given that blades are about £30 anyway, and I found a rather nice new shaver for £40, I think I'll probably just upgrade.
So, fifty percent hit-rate for a shopping list of two items. That's a little worse than normal, but I can live with it. And, yay, new boots.
Today was the first day of rest for a while, so I went to town. Objectives were to pick up a mail order from the local Games Workshop, and to buy some form of small bookcase for my desk at work, so I can organise the manuals and so on that are currently all over the desk. When I got into town, I discovered that my debit card had gone missing...
Fortunately, I had Craig with me, who loaned me the cash to finish the job in town. The card has been stopped, and there are no suspicious payments according online banking, so it's all good. However, since the card will be shipped to my home address, I'll have to toddle off to pick it up at some point.
Also, I dropped into Dave's Comics briefly, and left with a model of the iconic Highwind airship from Final Fantasy VII. Anyone who's played the game will remember it: it's pleasantly steampunky with a side order of plausibility in its design, and it's your vehicle for about a third of the game. Anyway, now it's on top of my monitor. Yay.
I got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. Yay.
I ordered three games with it, from Amazon.co.uk. Kawashima's Brain Training came in the same shipment, and is to be highly recommended. Tis good. Polarium was to be dispatched on the 19th of Jan, or thereabouts, and Mario Kart on the 5th of Feb.
Today, I received two emails within thirty minutes of each other. The first said that Polarium had been delayed by about two weeks. The second said that Mario Kart had dispatched. As such, the two shipment dates now stand almost exactly reversed from their predicted values.
Yay, Amazon.