Thursday 25 November 2010

Lost Punters - and Found

Bluewater was a bit of an adventure. It was a cold day and around ten people, including our trustee helper, didn't turn up. When we arrived, we all went our own ways and did some shopping. Romy had arranged separate transport for a punter in a wheelchair and her helper, and they managed a satisfactory shopping trip.

I had intended to restock with Lapsang tea, since the local Tesco does not stock this. However, I became quite carried away and purchased masses of clothes and some Christmas presents. When we came to leave, a couple was missing, so Romy rushed around to all the exits in case they were at the wrong place, but no luck. The centre management refused to put a message out on the loudspeaker, so leaving messages at customer 'helpdesks' we had to leave, half an hour late. Later that evening I had a call from Romy to say that they had been waiting outside Marks & Spencer at the other end of the shopping centre, and had then moved to House of Fraser, after we left. They managed to get back by bus and train, and rang Romy in the evening. I had been imagining all kinds of mishaps, so was glad when Romy rang with the good news. I suspect that Romy had burned off the calories we consumed at lunch by rushing around in search of our missing punters.

I bought a very silly Santa playgro with a hat and a white teddy bear for the baby upstairs, but will give them these with receipts in advance of Christmas. That way they can either change them for something more sensible, or the baby can appear as a mini Santa at gatherings in December, and will no doubt bump into many other mini Santas. He will be too young to be irritated by seeing others in the same outfit, hopefully.

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