Over the last couple of years - while I've had a bit more spare time on my hands - I've noticed something odd. Every so often, on a whim, I decide to take a shopping trip. Whether I'm after something specific, or just hoping to find something new in the toy aisles, the results of the journey can be accurately predicted by the troubles I encounter along the way.
For example, if the journey is beset by traffic jams, signal failures or, in particular, bad weather, chances are I'm not going to find what I'm looking for.
It's just coincidence, obviously, but it really does happen every time. One particular route (or set of routes) I take fairly regularly is the one that gets me to Brent Cross Toys'R'Us and/or from there to the Friern Bridge branch of Smyths. On that route, there have been occasions where the journey was an absolute dream, and there have been occasions when there are freak traffic problems (OK, I'm talking about the North Circular here, so freakish traffic is pretty much par for the course... what I mean is more freakish than normal), and occasions where a perfectly pleasant, sunny day suddenly turns and becomes progressively stormier as I go. Thing is, by the time it starts getting bad, I'm pretty much committed to the journey, so part of me is basically just accepting it as punishment for my poor decision-making.
Making it all the weirder, it is often the case that whatever problems there are on the way out, things improve either on the way back home, or when I switch to a more productive destination.
Take today, for example - the weekend became stormy, this morning was pretty crummy, and it wasn't looking much better when I left work (early - only a half day today!). Nevertheless, since I'd received the Smyths catalogue on Saturday, and since it looked as though there might be new stuff on the shelves, I decided to pay them a visit. While I was on the train in the afternoon, the weather seemed to improve... as far as Brent Cross. From then on, the wind rose and the clouds started returning. Lo, and behold, they had precisely nothing new (that I was interested in). Unperturbed, I walked down to the nearby Tesco... the wind was still high, but the sun was coming out again... and I found one of the things I was looking for.
On the way back home, I stopped off at Brent Cross TRU because I'd recently received a book of their vouchers. Wouldn't you know it, they had even more new stuff (strangely located only at the front of the shop - the regular shelves at the back featured the same - months old - stock). Technically, I didn't spend much more money that needed - only one extra bus fare because of the stop-off on the way home - but I could have saved myself time and strife in the journey... though I wouldn't have got everything I ended up with today.
Swings and roundabouts...
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