Saturday 17 March 2007

TOS Day 2.3

To recreate the thrill of Birmingham, I forced myself out round 4 outdoors shops in Aberdeen on Saturday afternoon, to see what they had in the sales.

Tisos. There's an Osprey 50 litre pack for sale for £90 (reduced from £120). Looked like an Atmos to me, but didn't take a written record. MH Trek pants down by 15 quid, for the normal and the zip-offs. They had the Gerber Shortcut multitool for £20.

Now, I have a Leatherman Squirt on order - once the Post Office get back to their core business and deliver the package to me, posted 10 days ago, recorded delivery, so someone will get there @rse chewed out since they have failed to deliver to package. But the Gerber is new, and there in front of me. But I know nothing about it. How does the weight compare to the Leatherman (which they have on show), what are the tools like. "We don't have an open one." "There is a picture of it". "I can show you a bigger Gerber so you can see".

Now, I'll point you here, dearest passenger, to my recent ramblings about the Real World/Virtual World interface, and cite this Saturday afternoon as a case in point.

Needless to say that there was no sale, as the impulse to buy was broken.

Waterstones. Not an outdoors shop, but I was after a book, and since it assimilated Ottakars, it is the nearest big bookshop on my route. I won't say what the book was I was after, as all will become clear later. There used to be a section on local writings, and the Scottish authors. Now it is 'adult/erotic' books in that prime slot. JockJottings (my term) are hidden by the kiddies section out the back of the shop. I couldn't tell if there was anything upstairs, as half of the upper floor is now a coffee shop, where you'd have to push past folk to get to the core business products. Once more I left empty handed.

Blacks. Big winter sale on. Some major discounts. They've also got the oval Sigg with a cup. Great design and I would be tempted but I have an oval Sigg already, sans cup. Package said it was based on a 1941 Swiss Army design. Picked up a Cyba-Lite for 2 quid, and "Don't Forget the Duct Tape" for 3 quid. They have some gorillapods in stock - I might give one a try when my beanbag dies on me.

It was the first time I came across kids wearing those wheel-heel things. Outdoors, no problem. But indoors, up and down the shop's timber floor? Here's a YT link - and someone will get hurt, if it hasn't happened already.

Craigdon's. Sale on (I didn't buy the pink fluffy boots in the window). About £10-£15 quid off lots of products. Saw the Osprey 22L pack in the flesh. Nice. Heard that the tent show is again in 5/6 May (link). Despite nice kit, there was nothing I was after. Nice to get space to wander.

Nevisport. And finally. In the door, looking at the sales items, I was greeted by ... "how'd the winter skills training go?" Not "what can I sell you?" or "do you need help?" I recounted some of the self-arrests and left the gent with an AktoCard so he could see the photos (unsigned card, but nr 8 - he looked bemused). Thought about a 3 litre Camelbak, but I've the 2 litre one already plus the oval Sigg, so resisted the impulse buy. Also resisted the Great Glen Way Harveys map until a later date (for another grand plan).

The surprise shop of the day was a bargain book shop. The Scottish section was well-stocked, with a book on Corbetts, and 2 editions of Cameron McNeish's "The Munros" book, Scots poetry and even some local interest books. Nothing I was after though.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"2 editions of Cameron McNeish's "The Munros" book". I assume that one was the version with all the errors in - usually sold off at £10 or less. :o)

AktoMan said...

They were both under a tenner. The older 'blue' covered one, and the shiny newer one.

I've the blue one myself, and use it, plus the cicerone, plus the SMC ones, plus Chris Townsend's book of his round, plus any other sources I can get.

And that's just when I'm planning a trip to the shops. Boom tish.