(no subject)

[blahflowers]

Anyone know any good sites for Christmas present ideas? Most of my family are stubbornly without much by way of interests, I don't want to just get them all DVD sets. New Scientist do have their No More Socks site, but it is obviously techy based and short on ideas.

Comments

[ill-prezidante.livejournal.com]

I find that if any members of my family can't decide on what they want a selection from the East Dulwich Deli is always most welcome. And while you're in the area, you could meet some of us deep south lither's for a drink or two.

Are you one of these disgusting early christmas shoppers?

[bearo.livejournal.com]

That deli looks fantasic never actually been in but I love little shelfs and bottles so I should really.

I tend to get all my shopping online these days, books and dvd's are so much easier.

[ill-prezidante.livejournal.com]

I'm still of the old school. I like to touch things before I buy them and that personal interaction of meeting face to face with the trader, or representative thereof.

I feel that online shopping does away with the elements of trust and humanity that have characterised our trading methods for thousands of years. Engaging in the cold, unempathetic world of online shopping makes me uncomfortable. I can't fathom why people are so eager to escape the warm reality of business for meagre savings that will be eaten up by credit card interest and an evaporating sense of the value of money.

[bearo.livejournal.com]

Well I see what you mean when it comes to places like markets or small local shops but trust and humanity isn't too obivious in most shops in London quite the opposite, especially when buying things like books and DVD's (megastores and the like).

And meagre savings are quite important when you have a large family :)

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

Online shopping helps because I tend to have it delivered to me at my parents, quite useful as I have to travel to them via the train. I would agree that online ordering doesn't really work for clothes, but I've ordered CDs, books, DVDs, videos and trees without difficulty.

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

Is five shopping weeks to go disgustingly early?

In my family we tend to do lists of suggestions for what we want, when I was a nipper that normally meant hours going through the toys at the back of my Mum's catalogue listing every type of Transformer etc that I wanted, and maybe getting one if I was lucky come Christmas day. Now that I have a job that pays me well enough to give me some disposable income I find it difficult to think about ideas, I have pretty much what I want, and it's only CDs and DVDs I can think of for myself. That's what I get for being an uninteresting person with uninteresting needs.

[ill-prezidante.livejournal.com]

In a perfect world Christmas shopping would be legally restricted to the two weeks before hand. On top of that decorations would only be allowed to be hung in the week before that.

Also Christmas cards would only be sold in boxes of 37 meaning that you don't need to desperately claw around for a further 13 names upon whom you will foist half-assed cheer regarding a holiday that you would have to think about for a couple of minutes before you could give a reasonable explanation as to why it's happening.

Also there must be some things you would like to possess but can't quite justify the expenditure on. Perhaps a nice Schiele print for the bathroom?

[spyinthehaus.livejournal.com]

Yes - shopping online does have a crack-like tendency to escalate... mind you, I find that with Switch as well. On the other hand, your representative at Borders is about as likely to have a personal opinion of a purchase to impart as Amazon.

I was chatting to a marketing person at Faber the other day, and she said that Amazon is used far more for research than for actual purchases, which I can well believe...

Anyway, to the enquiry. For my father, I often go for http://iwantoneofthose.com, http://www.firebox.com. http://www.lastminute.com actually does occasionally have some cool stuff... I aim to browse http://www.libertas.co.uk for various people... Actually, I am hopelessly udnerprepared for Christmas even on a conceptual level. Oooh bollocks.

[ill-prezidante.livejournal.com]

True enough, the cashier at Borders, or wherever I choose to distribute my beer tokens, is unlikely to have any bearing on my purchasing habits, unless they in some fashion serve as an annoyance. But I still identify that transaction far better than copying numbers and words into a box and then waiting 8-10 days for delivery. Where's the intimacy of that?

Actually I say delivery, in reality I have to wait for a notice to be delivered to my house inviting me to come to Peckham's Royal Mail Distribution Office at a mutually inconvenient time to make efforts to convince some stoppy overtimer that I am entitled to receive the goods that I have rightfully purchased.

I guess I also appreciate the immediacy of the retail outlet. I can casually stroll into Zwemmers and three or four small pieces of paper later I can exit with a hefty tome of glossy pages before initiating some quality photo time curled up on a leather couch in Nero. I guess I could pack-horse the latest half a ton of Yves Bertrand-Arhus into the C-Zone but I somehow suspect that it wouldn't be the same.

[bearo.livejournal.com]

Well it's usually only 2 days with Amazon but I know what you mean, it's much nicer to be able to walk around a shop picking up things and having a quick look.

Now I want to go shopping I wonder what time that 2nd hand book shop in Brixton closes?

[oilrig.livejournal.com]

I'm finding the (lack of) delivery part the most annoying/frustrating. Far to many letters and parcels lost by an incompetent and uncaring post office recently to rely on online purchasing at the mo.

[bearo.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with the Amazon thing, I'm actually using it at the moment to try and find some books which I can then add to my wish list so I can remember to pick them up next time I'm in town.

Online shop can be very addictive due to the not having to hand over actual money part.

[spyinthehaus.livejournal.com]

My desire for instant gratificaton certainly tends to mean that I find out that something exists over the Internet, then go and buy it physically. AT the moment my big vice is Morgan Computer, as the website is a) worksafe and b) full of stuff, and the shop can be reached in a lunch hour.

On the other hand, my beloved father, I think, bought almost exclusively from catalogues before the Internet, and I suspect now buys pretty well everything on the Internet, because he doesn't need or want the intimacy and he is prepared to play a alightly longer game. Ultimately, each Internet merchant is just another outlet, with advantages and disadvantages.

[ill-prezidante.livejournal.com]

Sorry there flowers, I appear to have degenerated your RFH into a rogue discussion on the aesthetics of shopping.

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

You'll pay. Oh yes, you'll pay my friend...