“So, Pete, ” said Karen, a few days ago, “what do you want to do with your day off?”

“Well, it’s been ages since I’ve been to Anderton’s, so let’s go to Guildford and I might buy myself a new bass.”

So today we went to Guildford. It had high points and low points. Lunch was good, some of the geocaching less so (caches placed outside public toilets, behind dustbins, and other such uninspiring locations). But as far as shopping is concerned, we were rubbish.

Firstly, I failed to buy a camera lens. I’ve been considering getting a new lens, maybe a prime or a macro, and I was right there in a camera shop looking at them, but I just didn’t feel it. The fact that there were no prices on them didn’t help either – if I can’t tell the price of something, then I usually assume that that’s because it’s prohibitively expensive, and just move on.

I also failed to buy a bass. Since I last went to Anderton’s, they’ve moved all the basses into a little dedicated room. Which is nice if you want a little privacy, but unfortunately the room gets a bit crowded with more than one person in it. I had a few minutes to myself, but then a gang of 3 lads walked in, and I lost all will to stay.

And then I failed to buy whisky. There’s a whisky shop in Guildford, don’tcha know. I browsed the shelves for a few minutes, feeling the shop dude’s eyes on my back the whole time. Nothing really inspiring though, everything was either £100+ or something that I could get in Waitrose. I walked out, again, empty-handed.

And finally I tried on a pair of trousers in a clothes shop, but again wasn’t quite convinced. My excuse here was that they were so bedecked in security tags and little removable cardboard labels that when I asked myself “are these comfortable?” I couldn’t really say for sure, because I was distracted by all the pointy things surrounding my waist like a utility belt of thorns.

Anyway, just wanted to grumble. Thanks for listening.