This morning me and Molly had decided to take a trip into Nottingham to do a little shopping...well specifically we wanted to go to one particular shop.
I decided to dress up a little and use this as an excuse to deviate from my usual jeans/shorts and t-shirt that seems to have been my 'uniform' for the past few months. I also decided to do my make-up...now most days I have applied what I would call 'day make-up'; mascara, blusher and lipstick but thought I would push the boat out today and put on some eye make-up.
Now I always like to have some colour in my eye make-up, I'm never one for 'natural' tones, and always like to tie the colour into my outfit of choice. So today I knew I wanted to go for a green and purple combo but I looked at my various eye-shadow palettes and felt completely lost! It has been so long since I've applied eye-shadow that it felt like starting from scratch. I'd completely forgot which shades I normally use and even applying them felt weird...but at the same time it was also nice to be bothered to 'dress up' a little.
Nottingham is only about 8 miles from where we live and normally it can take anything up to 40 minutes to get there but today it was a breeze. We parked up and decided that rather than take our masks on and off we would where them from leaving the car until we got back.
Walking through the city centre there were plenty of people about but nothing like as busy as I would have expected. There were markings on the pavements to indicate which side of the walk ways pedestrians should walk although they weren't as obvious as they could have been and it was a little while before me and Molly actually noticed them.
Of those walking about there were a mixture of people wearing masks and those with masks hanging off ears, or under chins. There was a queue to get into one of our favourite shops which we counted at about 8 or 10 groups waiting but we carried on in order to get where we wanted to go.
Our mission was to visit a shop called Bravissimo; a bra shop that is great for us girls that are 'blessed' up top and that have a fantastic fitting service. The only problem was that they don't offer a 'booking' service so when we arrived at around 11.30am and asked if we could get measured we were told the earliest we could be seen was 4pm! Now even in normal times I think we would have struggled to fill four and a half hours with shopping and coffee but under current circumstances I really didn't fancy 'hanging about' for that long! We were told if we came back tomorrow we might be able to get in to see someone but there were already people booked in for 10.20am but we couldn't book in...okay I'll admit to being confused. So we can't book an appointment but tomorrow we might struggle to be seen because there are bookings...??!! Argh!
We left...and didn't really know what to do next. Neither of us fancied standing in queues to get in to shops that we only wanted to have a look in...we didn't need anything specific we would just be browsing. And I think this is where the problem is for me when it comes to shopping, the social aspect of having a wander about, browsing, window shopping and stopping for coffees has been scuppered by having to queue and plan.
So we went back to the car and decided to stop off at a coffee shop on the way home. We put on our masks and had to queue outside the shop, there was hand sanitiser on entry to the shop, a QR code to scan if you were 'staying in' to eat/drink and markings on the floor for where to stand. It was a straight forward experience and we ordered drinks to go but it did seem to take longer than normal...although I'm not sure why?!
As we drove out of the retail park we noticed the queue for a fast food restaurant that must have been 15 groups/families long...I really don't think I could be bothered to wait that long and this is when I'm really glad that fast, highly processed food, is not my thing!
Once home, and armed with coffee, I spent 15 minutes sat outside in the sunshine with Simon catching up on our mornings before spending the rest of the afternoon catching up on pre-school work. Lots of invoices, updating contact information and writing of newsletters.
And before I knew it it was time to play taxi service for Molly to get her to and from her karate class. So shopping, coffee, work and my day was done...all topped off with a glass, or two, of red wine!
Stay safe out there, keep your distance and wear a mask
xx
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