Mission: Incomprehensible

There are some things I simply don't get.  Buying bottles to put ketchup in, for example, just seems like an exercise in futility.  If ketchup came in a bag or something, then fair enough, but it doesn't - it comes in a bottle.

It's like packing a box of things up - and putting that box in a box.

But I digress.  We all know I'm easily irked, and this is nothing new ;)  The last couple of weeks, the weather has, shall we say, gone somewhat downhill.  And you Aussie sorts can shush right now - I don't want to know how glorious you have it or anything else.

For the last few weeks, I've been putting off getting Jaysen a new coat.  Last years winter coat is, shall we say, a little worse for wear.  After all, it's been worn by a 9-10 year old boy that believes coats are indestructable.  Still, September was rather nice, so I figured "It can wait a bit"

Of course, last week, Mother Nature - being the evil sadistic cow she is - decided to turn the thermostat down, turn on the wind machine and for added measure, set the clouds to "constant drizzle" which I detest.  So, with the boy wearing little more than a large fleece, I sent him into school, and aided by Ickle 0dd Sister, we went coat shopping.

Now, neither me nor Jaysen are fussy when it comes to coats.  All we ask is that it's A) Warm, B) Waterproof, and C) Doesn't make you look like a complete knob.  Not such a hard criteria.  The only other thing I needed was that the coat was for 12-13 year olds as he's growing like a weed and I'd like the coat to last more than half the winter...  Gemma set to driving, and off we set.  Little did I realise how rubbish that day would be.

PS: Looking on the Matalan site, they also have the magical "13 years old, now vanish!" thing going on!!
Our first port of call was Matalan.  We went to the Boys section, and looked at their range of coats.  All THREE of them.  Four, if you count the sleeveless bodywarmer-type thing in there too.  One coat was quite nice, but Gemma said we could look elsewhere.  So I decided to do just that.  I'm not one to just buy the first thing I see.  So, across the road, we headed to Sainsburys.  Into the kids section, into the boys section...

Now, according to the wisdom that is whoever runs the kids section in this bloody shop, once a kid reaches 12 years old, he ceases to exist.  There are NO coats in there for kids aged 13+.  From dinky-size, through the early years, double digits, eleven, twelve... Then nothing.  The smallest adult coat would have smothered any normal 13 year old child.

We spoke to a member of staff in there, and she was as stunned as we were - she hadn't even realised.  Of course, she was helpful - she told us to go to Matalan (where we'd just come from) or try Tesco.

So, back into the car, and across Basildonia, into Tesco.  Now, I should point out, this store is huge.  Me and Kellie shopped in there last week, and from end to end, it took nearly two hours to fill our trolley.  They sell pretty much anything you might ever need.

UNLESS that thing is a coat.  Not only did the age thing happen again (thirteen year olds don't exist!), but the entire selection was just three coats.  Three ugly coats.  And that was that.

We tried Choice, which is a Next outlet store, but they had ONE style, and that style was "shite" and looked like someone had waxed a dressing gown.  I even went into the Sports Direct, thinking people into sports would need warm clothes for standing around watching people do whatever sporty things they are watching...  Most were ugly, and the one that wasn't too ugly was more than I would spend on a coat for ME.

You know what.  We ended up going back to the first bloody shop and getting the coat that wasn't quite so bad.  Sure, we could have gone into the town centre, into the shopping centre and going through every single clothing-related store, but I really wanted to go home.

And before anyone suggests Primark, that was where I got his other coat last year - which lasted approximately three weeks.

So why is it that boys cease to exist at 13 years of age?  The girls sections had coats through the teen years, but boys...  I could have gotten him something out of a catalogue, but that would have been so stupidly priced, it wouldn't have been worth it - plus he needed it a week ago!

So to all the big chains, the places that most people look when they need something - pull your bloody fingers out chaps.  Give us a better selection, in the sizes we need - not the proverbial middle finger with a sign saying "If you don't like it, lump it" Seriously, it cannot be THAT hard.

And you know what, next year, I will have to get one that falls into that mystical age category that doesn't exist...  That should be a fun day...  Incidentally, that coat picture is the one I ended up buying too.  Thick, waterproof and warm - and doesn't make him look like a complete dick.

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One Response to “Mission: Incomprehensible”

easternsparkle said...

Hi - I come to you via our mutual friend Posh Totty! I know exactly where you're coming from with boys clothes - nobody seems to make anything for them once they're 12, trouble is they're alos generally not big enough for small mens sizes - happy days!