A Shopping Saturday

After WF's music lesson last Saturday morning, we decided to go to MPH at Parkway Parade. WF loves to go there because they usually have a good selection of Thomas books. But that day, there was no new titles, and all we ended up buying at the bookshop were 2 cd-roms: one on Rainbow Fish and the other on some Mini-Racer Racing game.

After we paid, we saw at the entrance of MPH 2 men in costumes. One of them was in black leotard. WF told me that that was a character from Fantastic Four - I cannot recall the name now.

And the other one was quite scary-looking. He was very tall. He had a silver mask on and wore a long hooded cape. At first, I thought it was Darth Vader - because we saw only his back initially. Then as he turned, we overheard someone in the crowd say he was the Silver Surfer. Oh....

Anyway, WF wanted to get away from these weird-looking figures fast because he said they were scary-looking. I thought so, too. So we moved on quickly. (Actually, I wondered why they didn't get someone to dress up as Stone-Man? That would have been so much more dramatic and attractive, wouldn't it?!)

As we walked, we came to the Nokia shop. Since there were more salespersons than customers then, I decided to go in to check out the handphones and see if I should have mine changed now.

Some colleagues tell me that it is often difficult to decide which handphone to buy because there are simply too many choices. But for me, it turned out to be a simple decision.

The minute I went into the shop, I told the salesperson that I intended to renew my contract (aka sell my rights for the next 24 months) and I would like a 'free' handphone that comes with the contract. That so-eager-to-serve young salesman quickly ushered me to view the 2 choices available, which turned out to be the 5070 and 6070 (the models I was considering previously).

So I fiddled with the 2 sample phones and tried to look intelligent and knowledgeable by enquiring about their features etc. (Actually, both are comparable, lah.) Eventually, I picked 'prettier' the red-and-white 5070:



And as the salesperson settled the paperwork & set up the new handphone, WF watched the movie which was being screened at the Care Centre located in the same premises. After about half an hour in all, we left the store.

WF and I then proceeded to the Gramophone shop nearby to pick up another dvd - Little Einsteins. This is quite a good series. Its songs and music are very catchy. Besides, they also teach the kids what "adagio", "allegro", "crescendo" & "diminuendo" mean! I am quite impressed.
As we passed Bengawan Solo at the corner, WF asked to buy some sausage buns. Bengawan Solo's sausage buns are mini size and unglazed, so they are the most suitable for children. We got a box of 6, then proceeded upstairs.

Our next stop was Harvey Norman. I remembered that we need a new toner for our printer at home. So I got the salegirl to get the suitable one for me. It was quite tempting to spend more at the shop, actually, because almost all the items ranging from LCDs to dvd-players to printers to kitchen applicances - were on offer with substantial discounts and were bundled with many 'freebies'.

As I made payment for the toner (which being a consumable, was unfortunately not discounted), WF waited impatiently. The moment I said I was done, he quickly pulled me to the LCDs.

It was no wonder - many different visuals were showing on the multiple LCDs then: Grandpix racings + Ice Age cartoon + some car-chase movies etc etc. Gone are the days when one single 'demonstration-type' of visual show would be screened simultaneously on all the TV screens - those single type would invariably be either some flowers/insects/seaside scenery/ang-moh models on yacht etc. It is so much more interesting nowadays to go view the LCDs at these more 'enlightened' retail shops.

At this point, we were joined by R and WY who had just arrived at Parkway after WY's Chinese lesson at the nearby Katong Mall. We proceeded to have lunch at Jack's Place.

After lunch, we went on to do our grocery shopping at Giant. Somehow, somewhere at the back of my mind, there is this somewhat self-comforting idea that if we buy more of what we would definitely need anyway, before 1 July, then we would be saving some 2%...... :)