Shopping is not a lifestyle choice for me. I take no pleasure from passive admiration of designer products. Conspicuous consumption equals vulgarity. I do enjoy the many consumer goods I own, but shopping is merely the means to an end. I own possessions for their functionality or for their sensuality, not for the image. I pity people who live to shop, for whom shopping is a hobby.
I spent a good three hours in John Lewis this afternoon. It is a truly fascinating place, seeming to combine old-fashioned values with modern products. It has high staff-levels, and many of them seem to have come from another age. I imagine they must pay relatively well - they are definitely a different class from the slow woman at Somerfield who tells me her medical problems as I'm packing my rucksack. I imagine that, for many people, working for John Lewis is a life career. Many of the male employees are seriously camp, almost to the point of parody, in an almost Seventies way. And the customers were almost an epitome of Middle England - many were sensibly dressed, people who go to John Lewis to buy material to make their own clothes. Overall, they give the impression that they really don't want to sell you a lifestyle, but trust you, the customer to make sensible purchasing decisions, trusting in the reliability of their product.
I bought curtains and cushions and throws, but decided that the rugs were too expensive. I enquired about delivery - what I bought was bulky rather than heavy - and they will deliver a week on Saturday. I have to pay, but that's half the price of paying for a cab home.
I spent some time wandering around the furniture places. Again, £1200 coffee tables are well out of my price range, but I did enjoy looking at the little eye-catching touches. I particularly noticed the use of plain glasses as candle holders, a bright blue candle providing a streak of colour. Or a plain glass, a white candle, and a mound of beads that I would use with floating candles.
I was pleased that John Lewis allowed me, the customer, to shop in peace. No blaring pop music, and despite the many staff visible at every turn, no one hassled me or tried a hard sell on me.
When I nipped out for a cigarette in Cavendish Square, I was delighted to find a machine in the doorway for cling-filming wet umbrellas. I read about these things on a blog, somewhere, a week or so ago, but they were said to be a Japanese idiosyncrasy.
So, although I don't, on the whole enjoy shopping, this afternoon was pleasant and productive. Eventhough Oxford Circus tube was shut. Something to do with Madonna performing or something. Inconvenient end to a pleasant day.
