My old twin barrel footpump broke today. The fancy electric one threw itself under my wheel last year when I was reversing off the drive. Well I'm sure wasn't stupid enough to leave it there..............
So a good excuse for a trot to Halfords today. Mission is to buy a pump. Sworn intention is to buy a a good but inexpensive one...........
Experience tells me however that I shall return with a suddenly justifiable and fancy electric one and an equally fancy manual one just "in case".
I shall also probably feel compelled to buy something I've never heard of, some unction or other for cleaning dustcaps or something. I shall lust after the latest sat nav even though my old one is fine and I might even decide that the thing which will make my life complete is another new mountain bike, or accessory for one of the two current ones.
Is it just me, or do others have this "kid in a sweetshop" problem in these places ?
All I need is a basic pump, a basic pump, a basic pump.............repeat 100 times.......
|
hi.
I,m sure most guys here will agree.. when you send the wife out for even the smallest thing, she will always find some excuse to buy something else along the lines of shoes/handbag/dress... :(
Also, if you pop into asda/tesco for a loaf of bread etc, i bet by the time you get to checkout, the small trolley is full and your 30/40 quid down.. why does this happen? :)
|
Guilty as charged. Just wandered down to the local supermarket for bread and milk, got a basket, and still ended up spending £20!
I have to impose limits in places like Halfords. I still remember the look on SWMBO's face when I went once for a 16mm deep socket, and came back with a Halfords Professional tool chest, a four drawer portable toolbox, and a full socket set.
She rewarded me by going to Ikea the following week and being followed back into the road by a delivery truck.
It's a sport that SWMBO are both good at. It's why we never have any money!
Cheers
DP
|
|
|
|
I like to have a good poke nose round those places too, but i usually end up coming away disappointed with the leccy pumps (example only) on offer.
They more often than not turn out to be just about capable of doing the job and i go home annoyed with myself for wasting my time looking at stuff, and then get on the case of searching out the belt and braces industrial over the top version of said pump.
Which i did in that particular case, and the semi industrial version i now have will probably blow 4 x 4 x 4 tyres up in the time it took for my toy version to top up one car tyre, at 60 odd quid it wasn't cheap, but cost doesn't come into my purchasing within reason.
I know its over the top and completely unnecessary, but its another of my peculiarities and i'm sort of stuck with it..;)
And thats just one of many reasons i haven't got a hope in hell of ever getting my car in the garage.
I also tend to buy more than i need, but in that boy scout way of being prepared, for example i must own 10 umbrella's, got at least one in every car, and several dotted over the house, is there a term for a brolly fetish..;) and
Aside from that, the lack of product knowledge of some of the staff annoys me to the extreme and i go home even more in a huff than before.
|
Well I managed it. Bought a Michelin branded twin barrel footpump for £19.99 it being a third off apparently. It's quite posh....... for a footpump.
Was nearly seduced by the bargain tailored to fit / car specific car mat sets at £19.99 a set but couldn't decide which car/s to buy them for and baulked at buying three sets so rationalised it by not buying any. Maybe I'm getting better at this......
Still managed to come home without the sage and onion stuffing mix and olive oil I promised to get when out, so off to the corner shop it is to pay through the nose......He quite often has some interesting reds mind........
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 12/10/2008 at 16:33
|
|
Went to buy a car once (Cavalier MK1) - came back with an engagement ring.
|
|
PU - Which had the greater long term cost? Bet it wasnt the car.
|
|
Well she is generally self financing and in fact, year on she returns a genuine profit - to be fair.
|
Good choice, no deprecation!
|
In 1972 we bought a new house - needed a hammer to get some picture hooks etc up and went into town. Parked outside a garage (no yellow lines then) and noticed a car in the window.
Came home with an MGBGT, 4 mths old -£1250. A few weeks later SWMBO announced a forthcoming event. 5 mths later car sold - she could not get in /out of it.
Up to 2 years ago the car was still on the road, blacka nd not the Teal blue when I had it - I hope it brought happiness to the sunsequent owners.
|
|
the fault is firmly in the hands of the stores themselves i think they should all be sited at least 10 miles from the nearest cashpoint and not accepting anything but cash to avoid us weak willed from embarking on treasure hunts.
|
1986
I went to buy a pair of shoes when away for a long weekend, came back with a brand new Volvo 240GL Estate. At the time it was cheaper than either the Cavalier estate, or Sierra.
It was a Saturday, the salesman promised Monday am delivery, much to the horror of the Service Manager. I am convinced the PDI was never done, but it did come with a bunch of flowers, I obviously did not get bargain hard enough on the discount. I subsequently found out that the selling dealer had lost his VOLVO franchise and this was the last stock car.
Probably saved my life having made that purchase, whether a Ford or Vauxhall would have remained so intact after wiping out a big lamp post at 55mph on the A1 about 6 years ago with me in the passenger seat.
|
Last one that I managed was last week. Was supposed to have gone to pick up a letter from my brother and a letter with insufficent postage (so a sum total of £1.06 to be spent)
Stopped at a local dive shop to see if they could order in a dry suit for me... unfortunately they'd just placed a large order and were able to get mine on there as well with a 20% discount... so £280 plus the cost of the letter... as a percentage difference I think that I'm up there for intended spend to actual spend!!.... 264 times what I was supposed to have spent... oops!
|
|
This very laptop - went to Tesco to buy lunch, came out with this - been good though.
|
You buy lunch in Tesco's?
What sort of fees are you charging, or is it a case of saving for the imminent retirement?
|
|
Quick lunch on the hoof - its not all wine bars you know !
|
|
Came home with an MGBGT 4 mths old -£1250. A few weeks later SWMBO announced a forthcoming event. 5 mths later car sold - she could not get in /out of it.
Happened to a friend of mine - he joined a Swiss football club and part of his package was an apartment and car.
He got to order the VERY FIRST BMW Z3 to be allocated to Switzerland... got home, and the Mrs explained she'd had a trip tot the doctor etc etc etc
Back to BMW, and got an M3 instead...
|
Back to BMW and got an M3 instead...
Oh the hardships of parenthood, how ever did he manage ?
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 13/10/2008 at 10:49
|
|
|
|
|
High maintenance and running costs though. Particularly if you want to trade in for a younger model.
|
|
|
|
|
|
When I go into a car showroom to buy a new car I only ever buy exactly what I went in for ~ model, variant, colour, factory fitted options, dealer fitted options etc. The only thing I need the saleman for is for them to agree a "price to change" and complete the formalities of processing the order.
|
|
|
