Have you ventured out yet? It’s all a bit exciting isn’t it? You know, being able to go shopping for something other than food.
I’ve only ventured out once so far on a non-essential shopping trip and that was for something very essential – our little man’s first pair of shoes! My goodness, another milestone. Now, he is walking – in the way that someone leaving a pub at 1am might walk – still unsteady on his feet, wobbling a little, needing to hold our hands – but it was time to get him shoes. I’m relieved that we were able to put it off this long. There was one point in lockdown when I was convinced we’d have to buy his first shoes online. I was a bit disappointed at the thought, after all that first trip to the shoe shop is something special, however I was also resigned to the fact that there were many important life events happening or not happening everywhere due to lockdown, that I just accepted it. I did go as far as measuring his feet. I read that the best way was to trace around his feet and then measure the drawing. What a nightmare! For a start he wouldn’t stay still so my tracing round his feet looked like something created by a three-year-old. So thank goodness that the shops opened when they did! I dread to think what size my drawings would have come up with, more than likely not the correct ones I’m sure.
So we went to the shop, were served by a lovely shop assistant with a mask (isn’t strange how something that we would have deemed as odd a few months ago is now a perfectly acceptable normal) and ended up buying a pair of dinosaur shoes:
We’d gone into our local town early to avoid any queues so I took the opportunity to have a look in a couple of the bookshops – something I’ve been dreaming about doing for ages, browsing online doesn’t quite cut it for me. Naturally there were one way systems everywhere, one of my favourite shops having one which involved steps that I couldn’t avoid so unfortunately that was out of the question with the little man and buggy. But it was just so lovely to be able to do something so “normal”. I avoided the clothes shops as I knew that there were queues, and as our little man gets more aware of the world around him, I’m not so sure that he’d be too happy in a queue!
Although it is brilliant that we’re getting a semblance of normality back in our lives the new normal does feel quite restrictive (I know that’s the point of it). I don’t think I’d feel that quite so much if I didn’t have a baby and a buggy to consider as well. I also don’t feel I can browse in the way that I used to, I need to learn to shop more like my husband – know what I want, go into the shop, find it and buy it! I long for the days when I can just browse again (shopping was more of a hobby for me!), but for now I’m just so grateful that I can access the “non-essential” shops.
Next week the little man and I are off on a bookshop trip to spend one of his birthday vouchers – oh my goodness, the excitement at the thought of being able to choose books from an actual shelf in a shop – and that’s obviously me, he doesn’t have a clue!
Happy shopping!
Colette x
New Mum, New Life 