Retail therapy?

 
As regular readers will know, I'm incorrigibly nosey. I always say it comes of being a writer, but I suspect it's just a character flaw. I'm also a collector of unconsidered trifles - the magpie complex. You never know what that snippet heard on the radio or read in the paper might be useful. This time I heard a piece on the radio about changes in shopping habits since we've been  getting most of our retail fix on-line. Predictably fewer party dresses and more stuff for lounging in. I also read that one popular shoe designer is not doing shoes with heels for next season as we are all wearing flats and trainers. This is good for me, as I can't seem to manage heels these days. 

I don't think that any of this is going to be of any use for a book, although I must admit that I do like to send my heroines shopping on occasions. They also sometimes wear my clothes. Someone has to, if I'm not going anywhere to get some use from them! 

This got me thinking about my own shopping since lockdown, aside from food and other necessities. At first I was buying clothes for the much anticipated holiday on the Riviera that was supposed to be happening in May, and then in October - and then - well maybe this year, but not until I get my jabs, so that's not for a while. I now have a capsule wardrobe of two trouser suits, a dress, two jackets and a linen shirt all ready to go. Please don't ask if they still fit. I don't dare check. My other big expenditure is chocolate. 

Once I'd figured out that no, I was not going anywhere significant any time soon, and that Zoom only required a reasonably tidy top half, I stopped with the clothes  - except for the Christmas jumper, which was the result of bullying on the part of some of those Zoom attendees, who like to call themselves my friends. You can call it peer pressure if you like, but the result was that I caved and now have a red sweater  with glitter and reindeer. 

So - what took the place of additions to my wardrobe? Fairly predictably, books - the e-kind and and those supplied by post by my nearest lovely indie bookshop Griffin Books in Penarth.  A number of those were travel books - research for novels to come, I hope. I've also signed up for a number of online courses including some modules from the International  Thriller Writers' MBA programme all the way from New York and featuring some big names in crime writing, so I'm really looking forward to those. New adventures. My last indulgence, surprisingly, was jewelry. I have a decided weakness that way, and Facebook seems to have noticed and keeps showing me adverts for lovely stuff. I've been good and not bought anything in the last two months - had to pay the tax accountant and the gas people for the boiler insurance, and all those subscriptions to writing organisations that come due in January. Will I hold out for long now that the bills are done for the moment? I shall try.

Now comes the nosey part. I'd really love to hear about other people's indulgences while in lockdown. Is anyone brave enough to confess their shopping secrets in the comments? I promise I won't tell.