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.
Getting on with my life and thinking about things.
