"But, I say, you've never been and bought a newspaper?"

Last week I told you of my woe when I went shopping and felt under-dressed.  This week I was obliged to go out into town IN THE RAIN PAH BOO HISS to find my Mamma a birthday present.  Which was actually the objective of last week’s shopping trip, when three of my sure-fire, certain-to-be-overflowing-with-things-Mum-will-love options let me down and sent me stumbling blindly into the unforgiving glare of the high street in my jeans.  Well, this Saturday I hid my t-shirt and totally non-matching cardigan under my beautiful pink coat and wore boots instead of trainers with my jeans, AND as an added precaution I swerved the cool shops and went to Oxfam, where BOUNTY awaited me.

Is that a zebra over there?  Oh no, it's just me in my new safari dress.

(Hadn't got my face on)
Stripy top and BNWT Warehouse skirt that I think I might actually have on backwards.

That lot AND a birthday card cost me 37p less than the dress I bought last week, which itself was a massivo bargain at £15-reduced-from-£50.  Bargains make me happy, oh dear I’m such a cheapskate.

And I DID find a present for the Mothership, and it wasn’t in Oxfam, only I’m not going to tell you what it was just in case she wasn’t fibbing when she promised to read my blog.  She had that “Yes Zizzy, I AM listening to you relate to me in detail the intricate plot of the dead-people film you watched last night / the G&S play you’re rehearsing for, complete with dramatic re-enactments of your favourite scenes and renditions of the songs with you singing every part, I’m completely riveted, obviously.” look on her face.  Anyway, it was HARD WORK, because when I ask her what she’d like she gives me some non-helpful rubbish like oven gloves or a fridge thermometer, and nothing in the jewellery line is ever going to compete with some bespoke, hand-made, one-of-a-kind piece from my annoyingly clever sister, but I hope she likes it.