The Damage

Ok, I am officially done with the Selfridges Sale now. I mean, I've been through nearly all the racks and exorcised it from my system. I am at peace with the pieces I left behind (especially that £49 Evisu logo t-shirt and the £89 D-Squared cut-off jeans). And I am so pleased with my various purchases that I will now proceed to list them one by one (with original price in brackets):

1. Maharishi blue squares/Formula One t-shirt, £10 (£69)
2. Duffer St George pink rugby No.2 t-shirt, £19 (£59)
3. Duffer St George grey piano t-shirt, £19 (£59)
4. Miu Miu baby blue sleeveless t-shirt, £29 (£59)
5. Evisu tiger navy blue t-shirt, £29 (£89)
6. G-Star Elwood Trash blue jeans, £40 (£85)

Total savings at Selfridges: £284 (that's $824 freakin Singapore dollars!)

Quite restrained, all in all, if I may say so. Add this to the £157 (S$455) I saved on the first day at the designer sale (True Religion jeans, £100 (£220), Oki-ni Duffer St George t-shirt £18 (£55)), and I have saved a total of (drum roll...):

$1,279!

Thus proving, once and for all, the old adage: The more you shop, the more you save.

Hampstead Heath

If you go down in the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today
You'd better go in disguise

For ev'ry Bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears,
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them picnic on their holiday

See them gaily gad about,
They love to play and shout;
They never have any care;
At six o'clock when Mummies and Daddies
will take them home to bed,
Because they're tired little Teddy bears.

Ev'ry Teddy bear who's been good
Is sure of a treat today
There's a lot of marvellous things to eat,
And wonderful games to play.

Beneath the trees where nobody sees
They'll hide and seek as long as they please,
'Cause that's the way the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears,
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them picnic on their holiday

If you go down in the woods today
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely down in the woods today
But safer to stay at home.

For ev'ry Bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears,
The little Teddy Bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them picnic on their holiday.

Going Mad in Selfridges

So, you take the escalator to a huge floor filled with trendy people and trendier clothes. There are separate sections for every desirable brand possible ("ooh look that's D-Squared, oh next to the Y-3 counter... and wah, the Evisu section is SO huge! etc etc"). Then in the middle of the room, a bargain section with about 20 rails stuffed to the max, with tags screaming 50 per cent off and 70 per cent off.

Then you go up to one of the rails that is packed with jeans of all sorts of sizes. And they are ALL Evisu, with some D-squared thrown in. You start rummaging through, a feeling of panic coming over you. There will never be enough time to look through everything, and you won't have enough money to buy everything that you want. You leave the bargain rails and walk around to the different mini-counters scattered throughout the store looking for some semblance of "shopping order". But near the G-Star counter are two bargain racks chock full of G-Star jeans, all going for about 60 per cent below the Singapore price. And they actually have sizes, and the short 30 inch length that fits you perfectly.

Dazed and slightly insane, you dive desperately into the endless racks of clothes just hoping for the best. But you are distracted because all around you there are the cutest, buffest guys - all gay and rich, and all looking equally crazed, with jeans and t-shirts heaped on their muscular tanned shoulders. There is just too much, too much to see. It's an overload of the senses, you think, as the realisation dawns upon your short-circuited brain that that pair of D-Squared cut-off jeans you put aside (they were too large - Size 36) will probably wake you from your sleep with a start tonight, as your subconsciousness feverishly churns every piece of clothing you saw and considered in your few hours in shopping nirvana.

I'm going back today...

Summer in London

Barely 48 hours in the UK and I feel like I've done so much already. Just a few hours after landing at Heathrow, I was rummaging around a designer menswear sale in King's Cross (nicely redeveloped now in some areas). I came out with a Oki-ni Duffer St George t-shirt ("very Freddy Kruger", K.L. commented) and a £100 pair of True Religion jeans. I totally blame the Urban cover story on cult jeans brands for the latter :( The Kama Sutra embroidered back pocket was the clincher, though I suspect it might also be what might make me shy to wear it...

Then we went to Norwich to stay at Karl's house. Got lost driving around in the British countryside, which is the best way of course of looking at those rolling hills and "gently undulating plains". Came back last night and now it's off to the gym this bright Sunday morning before possibly going to the "gay bathing area" at Hampstead Heath later. And still deciding whether to watch the Pet Shop Boys, who are playing 2 special concerts at the atmospheric venue of the Tower of London next week. I've really forgotten how great London is in summer, and how so many things are always on at the same time :)

Once and for all

My BMI is not over 30. It's actually 28.3.
This makes me ok by WHO standards but overweight by Singapore standards (and "at high risk of heart disease and diabetes", says the Health Promotion Board).

Sigh, I want my BMI to be over 30! :(