NOT BLOODTHIRSTY ENOUGH

I am facing a conundrum: I long to be well-dressed, perhaps even a wee bit fashionable, but I am just too darn cheap to actually want to pay for it all. I can't seem to justify spending 50 pounds on a new skirt/shirt/accessory when a little voice in the back of my head reminds me that Ray and I could DO a lot of fun activities with that money.

I was spoiled in Vancouver because I lived near a designer consignment shop and could find a lot of really nice clothes at very low prices. No such luck in Cambridge - we have an Oxfam thrift shop but the clothes aren't quite what I'm looking for. My other option is to watch for sales (I don't care quite enough about fashion to be concerned that I might be buying clothes as they are going out of season/style) but herein lies a problem: English women are really into fashion, and the good stuff rarely stays in a shop long enough to make it through to sales. If it does, my size is never there!

I need to be more bloodthirsty and dedicated about the whole thing; check shops more often to see when the sales start, put up with the crowds, and not back out of a head-to-head combat over the last pair of size 5 high-heeled sandals (after all, my nails are as long and as pointed as the next gal's). But then again, I would rather take Ray out for a picnic lunch along the river, with a good bottle of wine...