Straight
Talk
Retail
Therapy
Nadia
Kabir Barb
Shopping?"
I groaned. "Do I have to?" My husband looked at
me in the same way he does when trying to explain something
simple to one of the children but not quite getting through.
"She would be over the moon if you did take her".
We were in fact talking about our eldest daughter--a self
proclaimed shopaholic! This was even more surprising coming
from someone whose parents break out in a cold sweat at the
thought of trawling through the over crowded shops. "We'll
call it distribution of labour-- I'll stay home and wait for
the plumber and you take her to the shops," was his next
offer. To some it would sound like a good deal but the thought
of being jostled and pushed around the streets of London trying
to get from one shop to another really did not appeal to me.
However, the enormous hug I got when I capitulated and told
my daughter that we were off to the shops was reward enough.
We decided
not to go to Oxford Street, one of the main shopping hot spots
in London but to the Kings Road which is another shopping
area. The underground was not particularly busy and when we
came out of the station the sun was shining, the birds were
singing--well, maybe not, but it felt like they should have
been, and the streets did not seem as crowded as I had thought.
The Kings Road is a long stretch of road with mainly small
shops. There are some high street outlets, other more eclectic
boutiques and very few departmental stores, interspersed with
cafés, pubs and restaurants. We decided that our plan
of action was to browse and if anything caught our eye take
a closer look. As we walked down the Kings Road, we chatted
and laughed, made fun about the outfits worn by some of the
passers by and tried on the silliest shoes that we were never
going to buy. Every now and then I would point something out
to my daughter and would get a horrified look-- obviously
I needed a crash course on pre teen fashion. We finally found
a shop that we both liked and picked out a selection of different
items of clothing for her to try on. Even the sales assistant
was incredibly helpful and hunted for trousers or skirts that
my daughter might like. As I sat and waited for my daughter
to display the different outfits, I realised that I was actually
having a rather nice time. Contrary to expectations, I had
not been drowned in a sea of people, nearly run over by a
push chair or shoved and pushed even once. My daughter had
not asked for one single thing and had left it to me to decide
what to buy or not to buy. Finally we left the shop laden
with bags, all for my daughter might I add, and still in high
spirits.
It then
hit us that we were both ravenously hungry so we grabbed a
sandwich and decided to walk down to Sloane Square where there
is a little square with a fountain and some benches scattered
around. We sat and ate our lunch together, mostly in silence.
The touching scene of mother and daughter sitting together
was slightly marred by the fact that we were getting sprayed
every now and then with the water from the fountain and my
daughter kept trying to shoo away the pigeons that seemed
to want to share our lunch. I have to say that ever since
watching Alfred Hitchcock's film "Birds", I have
been suspicious of any birds congregating together so we gave
up the whole idea of eating "Al Fresco" and headed
for the station.
It wasn't
as if we had never gone shopping with the kids before but
this time it was different. Life teaches you the strangest
things in the strangest of places and as I sat on the train
heading home, I felt as if I had a certain realisation. You
have to deal with changes in the best possible way and the
whole idea that children grow up is a painful one. It made
me think that despite the fact that each day I achingly watched
my children getting a little taller and a little older, it
was not such a bad thing after all. We were just embarking
on a new chapter of our lives. I guess there is something
to be said about retail therapy after all.
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(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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