Will the twain ever meet?

What is it about men and shopping? I can never understand why my husband hates shopping with such a vengeance.

For me, retail therapy is one of the most relaxing and fun experiences. It rests – right on the top – right after a spa experience 🙂 For my husband, it is probably as relaxing as getting his legs waxed 😉

I can spend hours window shopping… I can even do that in grocery supermarkets.. I am known to stand and admire all the pretty cakes in the bakery section, while my husband mutters behind me,’ Just select whatever you like and let’s get going! People are going to think that you have never seen cakes before!’ Which is why, whenever I am shopping alone, I make it a point to go to the food hall in places like Marks and Spencer and drool away 🙂 It used to me more fun in London – I used to love the Selfridges food hall.. Yummy yummy yummy looking food!  Now I make do with boring old M&S – but even that is better than nothing 🙂

Shopping for me is pure bliss.. Looking at all the clothes on sale, trying on a few and then deciding not to pick it unless totally satisfied.. For husband it is more functional – enter a shop only if he has no other option. Buy new clothes only when he has run out of decent clothes to wear. Spend 2 seconds to decide and bill it – all done in under 10 minutes.. 10 minutes! Can you believe that? How can somebody do that! It’s just not done! He despairs when I reject clothes and move on to the next shop.. I am sure he sends up silent prayers that I get what I am looking for in the next shop.

There is so much to browse, after all, we should make an informed decision – so what if it is just a pair of skirt? Or jeans or accessories or shoes.. How can we decide without knowing what is on sale next door? By the end of a shopping trip – I glow with happiness and he is totally exhausted!

For him it is a list that can be reduced where possible.. For me, there is nothing like a list when it comes to shopping.. I believe in picking up if I like it – am sure we can find a use for it , for him it is, picking up only it we are in dire need of it.

A couple of weekends back, we went to York. It is a beautiful little town with a lot of historic places.. As it happens, it started raining when we reached there. So naturally, I suggested, why don’t we shop, it will be nice and dry inside a shop – only to get it back from husband – ‘We come all the way to York and all you can think of is shopping??’ Can you believe it? What’s wrong with shopping if it is raining outside? Surely it is better than getting wet in the rain?

The one place that makes him want to shop is when he sees some electronic shop. Once, I left him at a Bose shop and went about , did all my shopping(read browsing, trying on, rejecting/buying) in all possible shops only to find that husband was still engrossed in the magic of Bose.. Never seen him so excited in a shopping trip 🙂

Next time, I want happy, fuss free shopping, with no questions like, ‘Aur bhi kuch lena hai kya?’ or ‘Aur kitna time lagega’ every 2 minutes( as if shopping is such a precise science that I should be able to predict!) , I am leaving my husband with the staff in the Bose outlet to ‘hubby-sit’ while I enjoy shopping to the fullest 🙂

Or better still go shopping with a girl friend. So much better!