Shrinking Stuff

'Visit' have noticed that products are shrinking, and we're not supposed to notice?

I'm a bit anal when I go in the supermarkets. I'm quite happy to pay for things that are a good product and I'll cheerfully pay more to buy free range eggs because I like to think the hens are treated better, and I hope that the premium meat products that I've always paid that little bit more for didn't contain any horse meat...

However, I also object to paying more for things that are ordinary and run of the mill. So I am one of the thousands of people who spends far more than they should or need to in Home Bargains and B&M - because it's all such good value for money and of course they are all things that you just can't live without... yeah, right!

So, I'm happy to pay for quality products, and object to paying more for ordinary stuff, but what about the fact that retailers and producers seem to think that we're all blind or daft?

I don't know whether you've noticed but things are shrinking. The cost of living is constantly going up and it's a well known fact that manufacturers have been making products smaller in order to keep them at the same price point. I think the first thing that struck me was the Cadbury's Cream Egg. When I was little they seemed to be huge, and every year they got that little bit smaller, and smaller and now they seem to be a bites worth and they're gone. I know when you're a child that everything seems much larger than it really is, but really.

We drifted into living on the Fylde full time, and when we eventually sold our house in Yorkshire one of the things to come out of the kitchen was an old box of soap powder. We use what we call 'flumps' - the little squashy liquid tabs in the washer - but always keep a box of powder for delicate things that need to be washed in the sink. Well, the original box must have been at least over 5 years old (we'd also left the house empty for a long while) and then a few weeks ago we got to the bottom of it and bought a replacement. I got the shock of my life when I saw how small they are now. Just look at this photo.

My mum's got a thing for Special K and she's been ranting about the boxes shrinking in exactly the same way.

Right, my next complaint is the multi pack bag of crisps. I love crisps - most flavours, but particularly salt and vinegar. With chocolate ideally. (Yes, it might sound vile but it really is very nice and I'm not the only one who thinks so). I buy multipacks like most people do, because a) there are slightly fewer in them and therefore less calories per sitting, and b) we eat a lot of them... especially when Kevin and I both like crisps. In fact, Kevin is a crisp monster - I find empty bags stuffed down the back of the taps in the bathroom, in the shed, all over the place, but that's another story.

I was so outraged at how few crisps there were in this bag I took a photo before I ate them.

In fact, looking at the photo, I think they are the deep ridged Walkers ones. A few weeks after I took this photo I had another bag of the same type, and when I opened them we were all indignant. I have never seen a bag of crisps that looked so empty in all my life!

Which begs the question, do manufacturers all think we're blind and daft? Or is it more an issue of if you want them you pay your money and you take your choice?

Christmas Food Shopping

Love it or hate it, we've all got to do it, here's how we get round it....

Right, let me get this off my chest first, we have a weird Christmas by most people's standards, because we've dropped out of the rat race.

We spent a lifetime answering to convention, spending hundreds of pounds on presents and the whole three day celebration. We did the Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day thing with family, and then flopped in exhaustion.

Now, there's just four of us, so we can do what we like. And that means nothing. We have Christmas lunch, a box of crackers and a walk on the beach. It feels a bit weird when you first go from one extreme to the other, but believe me, you get used to it very quickly!

Which brings me on to the business in hand. Food shopping. Now I can't say that supermarket food shopping is my favourite task of the week - I don't mind sauntering round Aldi or M&S (to go from one extreme to the other) at the weekend because I feel like it, but rushing round getting what we have to buy is another thing altogether, that frequently puts me in a bad mood. Especially when it always rains on supermarket day.

Like many people, we split up buying our extra things over the weeks leading up to Christmas and that spreads out the cost. The pigs in blankets, the Christmas cake (have you seen the price of them this year?) and my mum's favourite, the chocolate ganache Yule log - we have to have one of those.

I always find that juggling which day to go to the supermarket pre-Christmas is an art form. Go too early and everything has gone off, go too late and the shelves are empty, time it just right and the WHOLE OF LANCASHIRE is in the shop with you. One year in a previous life I went to the all night Tesco superstore at about 6am. Now I don't like Tesco and it's not a shop that I use very often, but it was the only nearby 24 hour one, so needs must and all that. It was brilliant - the shop was just about empty and I sailed round and got everything. I bought a cd, and in my usual absent minded style left it on the till when I packed up. When I went back to the shop for it, it was like a hell hole.

So what are we going to do this year? Well the pigs in blankets are languishing in the freezer, the cakes are in the cupboard, and the crackers are in the store room. We'll be going on our regular pilgrimmages to Asda and Sainsbury's as usual, albeit on a different day, with a trip to M&S at some time for all the nice things and a bird for Christmas Day. I've got my mincemeat and baking things all lined up, ready to answer to my biological clock that doesn't make babies but mince pies (when it's cold and wintery and especially at Christmas, I just have to bake). So we're all set here at the madhouse.

Now, what would I recommend?

Well, for us, the bird has to come from M&S - you only have one Christmas day in a year so better make it a good one. Yule log - often from Sainsbury's but this year we're giving Asda's extra special one a go, or whatever their premium range is, at £3. Brandy butter - well frankly my dad likes it so much that he'll eat it from anywhere and in vast quantities. Mince pies - got to have icing sugar on top if you're buying them ready made. Christmas pudding? Not for 3/4 of us - we've already planned for M&S sponge puddings instead. Christmas cake? Well the best one I've ever had our friend Pam made which doesn't really count in a shopping blog. Again, ours has come from Asda - just a small one because we're watching the calories too... Oh, and I've bought a box of florentines from Aldi.

I'm sure there will be lots of other things that we'll buy but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Happy Christmas to you, whether you do like we do and do nothing - or have the street round! Just remember, that it's just another day!

A Trip to Fleetwood

Jane's been to Fleetwood this afternoon, working, but nonetheless visiting shops!

I’ve been to Fleetwood this afternoon, handing out postcards and talking to people about websites.

It’s an amazing place Fleetwood, when you open your eyes and really look at what’s there. And I’m even starting to work out how to find my way around without having to go round the coast road. Quite an achievement - I’ve been round in many a merry circle because I’ve got lost!

I started at the North Euston. It was quite packed, I think there was a funeral going on - there was certainly some kind of function. I like the North Euston, I’ve been to quite a few meals and events there and you can tell the difference between a family run business and a corporate machine.

Lighthouse Stationery was my next stop.

Now that’s a fascinating place if ever there was one, both for the stuff that they sell and for the people who go in there.

Derek, the owner, has a fabulous selection of old photos of Fleetwood that you can buy prints and cards of.

He’s got notecards and calendars on sale that show the best ones, plus Christmas cards with photos of current Fleetwood in the snow.

And possibly most other things that you didn’t know that you wanted until you saw them, including some really nice Parker pens which are ideal for Christmas.

After Derek and I had put the world to rights and talked about Fleetwood In Bloom and signage for the town, I headed off to Lord Street.

I’ve never been in Pablos cafe before and I have to say it is very nice.

Linda, the owner, was telling me about how the people who want to see Fleetwood succeed have to stick together and help each other. How true. And I’ll include me in that.

I bobbed in and out of most of the shops, chatting and having a laugh as I went along, and finally ended up in Plush.

By this time it was going dark and I had still to pop into Asda for something for tea because we’d absent mindedly not bought anything on Tuesday when we normally go shopping, and I knew they’d be sat at home with their tongues hanging out waiting for food.

Jacqui was busy trimming the windows in Plush with fairy lights and some lovely, tasteful decorations.

I have to say the shop is the prettiest and most tasteful one I have been in so far, Christmas trimmings wise.

Inside there are pretty decorations hanging from the ceiling, with red hearts between. Jacquis favourite this year are the reindeers – particularly tame ones with teddies sat on their backs!

I’m on the same page though – although I’m not into Christmas I like the decorations that you can use all year round.

Since times are hard and friends are few, the new season Christmas decorations at Plush are multifunctional and you can leave them out all year round.

What a good idea – I’ve got odds and ends of things that were bought as tree hanging ornaments on door handles in my bedroom from years ago.

So that was my afternoon in Fleetwood.

I’ve handed out postcards in most of the shops down at the North Albert Street/market end of town, so while you are there next see if you can spot one and take it home as a souvenir!

Our new Online Shop

You don't have to trawl around now, looking for local products. We've found them and put them all in one place for you.

Over the years we've bought a number of the local history books. You know, the ones with old photos and stories about the past. The kind of thing that your grandma could tell you but you never listened properly and never wrote it down. They're very popular as presents too, we've certainly spent our money on them in the past, and get them out every so often when something comes into conversation to remind you.

The trouble is, there's always a really limited selection in local shops. And they often sell out, or it's the last copy which is dog earred. And then because you've bought them for your dad, you can't remember exactly which ones you've had, so you end up with two.

Well now we've shortcut all that for you, with our new online shop. You can have a look on the bookshelf while your dad isn't looking, and then buy the ones you know he will enjoy. Your own copy that no one else has dog earred, straight to you in plain cover through the post.

We've started our online shop off on each site with a selection of products that are connected to each of the places on the Fylde Coast from Fleetwood to Lytham. You'll find books, prints, photos, and gifts, all with a local theme. Perfect for Christmas.

'What's that got to do with the price of eggs?'

‘What’s that got to to do with the price of eggs’, it’s an expression we all use, well at least I do, and frequently. Well, this has got nothing to do with the price of eggs, more everything else...

The breaking news off my iPad toting dad this afternoon was that gas and electric is going up by an astronomical amount – something hilarious like 9%. I don’t know why they don’t wear a mask and come and shoot us all, it’s about that near to daylight robbery. It's enough to make you wish that they’d get fracking... and quickly.

Our utility bills are big enough as it is. We work at home and funnily enough, live at home too, so in winter our heating is on all day long. And because we’ve got a home office we have it on all over the house too, in living areas and for work. Then you have the lights on for all hours of course, even though I’m always going through the house turning them all off.

Our gas and electric comes from British Gas and I do the read your meter every month thing and submit them online. It doesn’t seem two minutes between peering into the cupboard between one month and the next. In the summer we seemed to be miles in front of ourselves and I think at one point we were about £500 in the black with one of them. I didn’t break my neck to get it paid back because I knew when it went cold we’d soon spend it.

We have an outdoor thermometer in the garden near the kitchen and when I get up at silly o’clock in winter I peer out of the window to see what temperature it is outside. I’m getting quite expert at temperature forecasting – 10 degrees or higher means that I don’t need to put the heating on unless it’s windy of course (it’s a subtlety but it makes a difference) and 5 or less means I certainly do. If it carries on going up at this rate, we’ll not be putting it on until the thermometer is below zero.

I wouldn’t mind but it’s like all the holes they dig in the road, that must cost a fortune in themself, and why are they always doing it? At the end of Westbourne Avenue at Cleveleys they seem to always be digging holes near the tram tracks. Every so often, out come the barriers and down the men go – into the holes.

I wonder if it’s the price of gas that’s pushing everything up in the shops? It certainly can’t be helping. ‘They’ try to tell you that the price of goods is stable, but it will be when ‘they’ keep changing the goods in the standard shopping basket which they measure inflation by. I know that when I go in the shops and particularly the supermarket, that things are going up every week.

Take today for example, when I squeaked ‘SIXTY ONE PENCE’ at the top of my voice in the custard aisle in Asda. Delia Smith I am not, and powder, packet custard is just fine for me. In big quantities preferably because I really like custard. When we discovered it, and not that long ago, it was 25p a pack. Then it went up to 45p and I seem to remember doing the same exclamation in the middle of the shop. But 61p, for a packet of Asda own brand custard? Who are they trying to kid? I voted with my feet and bought three packets of Birds for a quid!

You get to the till and hold your breath now, as the cost goes up every week. Between watching the calories that you eat, working all the hours that God sends, and making sure you don’t buy anything that you don’t need, it’s enough to make you wonder why you bother.

Good job the sunsets on our lovely coast are free – they are one of the few things in life that are – until British Gas work out how to charge you for their energy!

With what to dye, that is the question?

When you reach lifes grey hairs, for a while the only answer is to pretend they're not there...

I wouldn't say I've been particularly outrageous with my hair over the years, but let's just say I haven't been afraid to experiment.

Once I got past the long, plain straight hair that all kids have - first a fringe then it all came off - the experimenting really started. I blame it on the Girls World. How many of you had one of them? Press a button in her back and out pops a pony tail. If only. Eventually I gave mine a feathered haircut, and practised on her what became a lifetime of cutting the hair of all our family - mine included. I've never had a desire to be a hairdresser, my back just wouldn't stand it, but I'd really like to be able to take my head off to do the back. My grandma always said that - she was what today you'd call a mobile hairdresser - although without any formal training and an ability for bubble cuts we always said 'she did hair'.

I smile many times when I see the teenagers in Home Bargains, mulling over the hairdye. It's a rite of passage that all of us girls go through - the Saturday afternoon dilemma of burnt orange or sizzling red, and then Saturday evening spent tarting each other up while listening to the music of the day. For me with my friend, we gazed at the shelves of a shop called Martin Raymonds - it was THE cheap shop at the time, always packed, always full of bargains, way before B&M and the march of the value retailers that are taking the country over today. Shaders and Toners was our dye of choice - bright and vibrant for a weekend and then fading away on a dirty towel by the time double biology came around. And the music? At her house it was always punk, I've still got a good working knowledge of the Sex Pistols and The Clash.

So my crowning glory has been an inch long, then grew through a tight curly perm when I got married, then I used Sun In - a disaster on long, very dark brown hair that turned it into the stretchy bubble-gum nighmare of hairdressers all over the country. When it became obvious it was going to need chopping or something changing I turned to full head bleach until I could stand the 3 weekly colouring appointments no longer. Then I had it all cut off again, and went back to dark brown, then back to half an inch, then back to growing it again...

Two years ago, by now chin length, I had it streaked. 'Don't make me look like a Zebra' I said, 'but I want enough streaks to be able to tell that they are there'. I came out of the shop in Cleveleys with so many fine streaks that I looked like I'd had a full head colour. Lovely for three weeks, but then the roots came. So for two years I haven't seen my own hair, as I've added streaks myself, been to the hairdressers a time or two, and coloured it in all shades, and for the first time even trying red.

Eventually I settled on semi-permanent. The good thing with that is that it stains the lighter blonde bits and blends out the roots, but as it washes out after three weeks it doesn't leave a tideline of two colours. My first choice was the branded 'Nice & Easy' expecting it to be better on my hair. Mmmm. For a few days it certainly makes it feel coarse, and seemed to wash out quickly and after a week the silver strands were showing through.

Then while I was in Boots I was once again stood gazing at the colours, just like I did when I was 14, and came to Boots Botanics Semi Permanent, which was on offer at the time for two for about six quid, so I thought I would give that a go. There's never a huge range of semi-permanent colours so I bought Bitter Chocolate (which gives you some idea why the blonde roots were a problem) and gave it a try a week and half ago. I was really impressed.

By now, I'd got quite distinguished grey temples (god knows what it would look like under all the colours) and my own hair was a mucky shade of dark brown showing at the crown. The colour was dense and even, it coloured all the grey, and more importantly, it made my hair feel really soft and in good condition. It comes with a tube of conditioner to fix the colour and there's plenty left with a recommendation to use it every week to maintain the shine.

I'm writing this a week and half after colouring it and it's faded ever so slightly, but the colour is still dense and even and I can't see evidence of any grey showing through yet - it's certainly better now than the Nice & Easy was after a week and half.

So ladies, and maybe a few gents too, if you want to colour your hair and aren't ready for a permanent tide line, I'd say try Boots Botanics in the colour of your choice! Currently it's on offer with a haircare multibuy of three for two.

The shopping that dreams are made of

It's coming to something when I'm writing shopping blogs in my sleep!

Now then here's a strange beginning to a shopping blog for you. Last night I was even dreaming about shopping, and more to the point, that I hadn't done a shopping blog for a while and it would give me something to write about. How sad is that. I was in a shop in Barnsley and I was looking for a children's book that would become a railway made out of wooden blocks and pieces. I knew the shop sold them, and my family were going to buy me one for my birthday. But when I got in the shop everything was behind white fronted cupboards that you couldn't find anything for (a bit like the ones in our office in fact) and I was spitting feathers because they seemed to have taken them out of the shop completely, and I couldn't find any children's books at all. It was at that point that I thought 'this is something to write about, it's appalling that they make it so difficult to shop in here'. Would you not agree that it's coming to something when I'm dreaming about websites? And it's happening all the time.

I've been to Blackpool again this week, but to another meeting. I've never been to Blackpool as often as I have in this last six months, and get a thrill every time that I drive through the town centre and can't believe that I live here now. In fact I was there at the Winter Gardens on Friday morning too. The really upsetting thing for me is that I haven't been in the shops - it's just not the same. I was so near to the retail area on Friday, and could hear M&S shouting 'Jane, Jane, over here'.

I'd bought these tops earlier in the year from good old Primark. I had hoped that I would have had a chance to wear them by now, and with the weather being what it's been I haven't of course - not for their proper purpose, although I could have worn them as vests. I have a bit of a war-time rationing mentality to things like this, and inside my wardrobes have a stock of knickers, socks, slippers and tights that would last me for about another 50 years, but I still can't resist buying more. It's a bit like the linen cupboard in the big country house, only I haven't got a linen cupboard to neatly keep them in and they are just shoved in gaps and then of course I can't find them when I want them.

In fact, I seem to have been wearing a lot of my winter clothes never mind summer ones, and only a week or two ago went to the supermarket in my winter spotty mac with the warm lining, it was so cold. It was a complete shock yesterday to be able to sit in the sun after tea, and actually it felt really hot. Let's hope we get another day like it and I might even do some more nocturnal shopping to go with it!

We do like a bargain

We spend a lot of time at Freeport which is even greater fun when stuff is reduced!

I work ridiculous hours during the week and have little time for anything else so when the weekend comes I'm always catching up on jobs in the mornings.

Yesterday, after three hours of early morning editing, I did some housework, baked two dozen buns in anticipation of a fundraising event today, and then went in the garden to do some dad heading after all this rain. So after lunch all I wanted to do was go to sleep, and after a quick cup of tea we went to the Freeport at Fleetwood for an hour to pass the rest of the afternoon.

We always head straight to Next and work our way back to the gates. If you go frequently and keep looking you can pick up some really good stuff in there - from among the jumble. And yesterday most of it was jumble, as it usually is when the sale is on. It's amusing to walk round a full price Next because you can spot what will end up at Freeport. Especially all the viscose which looks like the stuff I wore as a young teenager in the 80's. I hated viscose then and I won't be buying it now.

I bought a jersey skater dress which looked lovely hung on the hanger. Unfortunately, the shoulders are sewn all lumpy where the thick fabric doesn't lie flat. It's OK for £13 but I'll be taking it back, and I wouldn't like to think I'd paid £45 for it, which is what the full store price was.

M&S Outlet is my favourite shop and I rarely come out of there empty handed. In fact full price M&S is a bit of a shock when you are used to the Freeport one. Yesterday they had a sale on which made it doubly good, and we bought a few bits and bobs.

We got two of these lovely bags, which if I remember rightly, are about £20 in the stores, for just £5 each. Things like this would make great presents and the dreaded 'C' word is only just around the corner now. The scarf is my mums, I must have been asleep when she picked it up for just £2.50. I like a nice bright scarf to cheer up a winter outfit and I have no idea why I didn't buy one. I'll have to see if they have any left when I take the dress back to Next...

I also bought a lovely black jersey M&S Per Una dress for just £8.99. I'd been eyeing it up for a few weeks and couldn't resist it when they were almost giving them away. I thought it was quite a scooped neckline, which it is, but I've since bought a bra in M&C at Cleveleys which has an inbuilt lace cami, which is perfect for wearing things like this without creating a show, so I will wear that under it!

That was all for one day (apart from a visit to the other local Mecca known as Home Bargains) and now I shall go and bake more cakes, since the sky is clearing....

Shop 'til you drop

A rare afternoon off, helping the shopping economy of Blackpool

Haven't got a photo for you this time, I'm afraid. To  be honest I forgot to take one! If you've been following Chrissies Blog you'll know that it was my birthday this week and we had the luxury of a rare afternoon off from work, and headed to Blackpool.

I like shopping in Blackpool. I always come back heavy with bags and always manage to find something to buy. Apart from believing that you should support your local shops, I think it's a great town centre with lots to offer. When we lived in Yorkshire we used to come to Blackpool every summer for my birthday, it was always my treat. We did comment how lucky we were to have cut the drive down to half an hour instead of 120 miles!

My mother and I have a route. Without a word said, we seamlessly go from shop to shop, knowing exactly where we want to go and which shops we want to go in. It must be two months since we went into town, because we always go in the week there has to be an excuse or a reason to have time off work!

Because it's a while since we ventured to Blackpool we wanted to be more thorough and go in all the shops we like and make sure that we'd not missed anything. There seems to be a strange rule that when you have your 'spending head' on that you don't find things to buy, but this week was the exception to that rule!

I started off in M&S - not buying any clothes as such, disappointingly I didn't see anything I couldn't live without. But I did find some nice tights. I'm in a dress and skirt mode this year - I've worn a skirt and thick tights all winter and to be honest I've been warmer than when wearing jeans. The tights I bought were flowery ones to wear with my extensive range of black and grey clothes!

A quick pit stop for a bite of chocolate and then we went across the BHS. I can't say I like the new layout now that they've taken in Wallis and Dorothy Perkins etc, but I did get a lovely grey stripy dress for £10 and a cream cardigan. Worn all together, with the scarf I'd gone shopping in, they make a nice outfit. I like grey.... Personally, I think that BHS could do with a bomb under it. I can't  remember any new fittings or modernisation since I started going in there donkeys years ago, and it's ready for a makeover - if the management are reading this take note! We were used to the one in Meadowhall which is fantastic by comparison.

Next stop was a sashay round Wallis (hardly anything in the shop to  be honest, which was surprising) and of course into WH Smiths. Anyone who reads these blogs will know that I love pens and pencils, but didn't manage to buy anything like that, just design magazines for my two men and a packet of Tic-Tacs. Another question, talking about shabby shops. Why are WH Smiths always scruffy? All the ones I've ever been in are always untidy and ready for a fettle. It must be a management thing because there's a consistency in it. Take note and get tidying! And they wonder why their profits are falling. And while you're at it, ban all the men who stand reading the magazines - make them buy them!

Little rant over, our next call was TK Maxx, after a walk along the back of the Tower on drafty Bank Hey Street. A jester from the Tower Dungeon was stood on a box ranting as we passed, and we mused how they keep the torches burning - when the Olympic one went out. Maybe they should have taken tips from Merlin!

We have the same route in TK Maxx. Quick look through the handbags and scarves (I've nearly completed handbag rehab, but I still need to look), and up the escalator to nick-nacks and cookery things. I haven't completed my withdrawl from notebooks and since it was my birthday bought a lovely journal. We got some really nice glassware too - a bird and an apple - to go with our orange ornaments on the living room shelves. They have really great and unusual stuff in there and lots that I'd like to buy. The problem for me is carrying stuff which is heavy. It was a good job that my dad had come with us because we were ladened by the time we finished.

We always go down the back stairs and through the shoes. They never seem to have much in my huge size seven - it must be popular because the other sizes are better stocked. I'm smittling my mum with centipede affliction and she bought some Birkenstocks, which she lives in in summer - that was another disease I gave her too!

Next stop is Primark. I love Primark and could spend hours in there. Some of their stuff is absolute tripe and you'd have to be 14, very thin and skint to wear it. However, I have lots of things that I've bought there, including a rainbow of cotton cardigans (and another one this week) and plenty of T shirts. The trouble is, when someone tells me they like what I've got on I always break my neck to tell them where the latest bargain came from. I should learn to keep it zipped.

I didn't do too bad in there to be honest, and then off we went to New Look and Debenhams. By this time we were starting to get exhausted. Bear in mind I'd been up since 5.30am, done a full morning of work, and had a headache when I set off. For a miracle I didn't buy anything (or any shoes) in New Look, and just grumbled under my breath at a gang of teenagers showing off and two boys trying hats on. I was stupid and 16 once, and tried hats on in shops, but I can't remember being a royal pain with it. Or maybe I was?

Debenhams, Debenhams. That was where it all went wrong. Starting with a pair of pink, minnie mouse ballet shoes with a bow on the front. Exhaustion or not, we scoured every rack and found (yet more) rainbow cotton cardigans, a skirt, a T Shirt - have I forgotten something? Probably - it all went in a very big bag.

By this time it was getting late and we realised that Kevin and our dogs would be starving, so we scuttled home. The car park was empty and the sun was still shining, and I'd had a lovely birthday - topped off at home with Cadburys chocolate cake and a rousing verse of 'Happy Birthday to You'. What more could a girl want!

A common shopping and hoarding condition

Pens and pencils - all kinds of stationery seem to be a magnet to many people - particularly women - me included.

From what I can gather I'm not the only one to suffer from the pen affliction. It also seems to be a condition which particularly affects women. I think it stems back to the days when you had a new ruler and pencil case to start the new school year - only I liked one for any occassion during the year including the start of a new maths or English project, or because we'd got a new class hamster.

I needed a new calculator which gave me a perfectly legitimate reason to grace the aisles of Stationery 4 Less at Fleetwood. I had a good idea where they were in the shop, which just so happened to be near the pens. I bet I could give them a run for their money with almost as big a stock of pens. I've got biros, gel pens and markers, blue, black and red (and a few green), pencils of the normal type and automatic, and much more besides. I've also got a thing about the plastic boxes that I keep them in, but that's another blog for another day.

Many moons ago, the Halifax (Building Society as they were then) used to use turquoise blue pens. The woman in the shop where we lived was quite fierce looking and I'd have never dared ask her for one, even though they were only cheap biros and she had boxes of them in her cupboard, hidden behind the glass screen. I've always had a thing for turquoise blue biros, and often think about that particular woman when I see them. She was always just so and wore a lot of jewellery.

So, guess what I found in Stationery 4 Less? The turquoise blue pens in the photo, along with a natty shade of purple, which I also like. So now I know where to go when I need a new one - all the way to Fleetwood!