And sew on...

Sunday morning, and I've already been subjected to a lengthy dissertation on the relative merits of hand sewing machines, and the disappointments that followed whenever someone traded theirs in for one of the 'new' electric machines, which couldn't handle the heavier work. Thanks, mum.

I know I shouldn't complain, considering the number of probably mind-numbing conversations I've had with my mother about toys or movies or TV shows, but... Sewing machines? I only went downstairs to get some breakfast, and I'd virtually finished eating it before she let me out of the kitchen.

It all started because she's been scouring eBay for a hand sewing machine as a gift for my sister, because "if our sewing machine goes to Swindon, it'll never come back again". She's actually making the two most common eBay bidding mistakes - putting in a nice, even number and keeping that number low - so I tried to advise her to put in, for example, 11 pounds instead of 10, or 27 instead of 25... even pointing out when someone else had used that tactic against her as a practical example of the logic behind it. As usual, she agreed that it was a good idea... but I know she's not going to use it, because that means bidding an extra pound or two... and that's before shipping.

Hells bells, some people just don't get it, do they? Most of the time, when I bid on something I really want - rare, because I prefer going the Buy It Now route - I'll either put in a really weird bid, or a very high one... literally, the maximum I would willingly pay for whatever it is (£150 for RID Scourge, for example - glad I didn't have to pay that much, but I would have done). Sometimes - most of the time, if I'm honest - it later transpires that it would have been ridiculously over the odds (ahem. £150 for RID Scourge, for example) and, had I not won on a significantly lower sum, I could have waited a couple of days and picked it up Buy It Now from another seller but, hey, that's the fun of eBay.

It has also been observed that, the moment you win some hard-to-find item on eBay, it miraculously turns up in the shops. It really doesn't just happen in webcomics, and it's really annoying when it turns up cheaper in the shops.