Buying a shirt

should not be that difficult should it?

I do not like buying clothes. I would rather buy books - or yarn. I buy clothes because I need to be clothed. My favourite "shop" is the local charity shop. If I need something I will go in and see if they have something which will do. 

They get some good things in the shop, things with the labels still attached sometimes. At other times I have found things which have clearly been worn no more than once or twice. That's fine with me. I can take such things home, wash them and then use them myself.

I buy things in there for the Senior Cat too. He shares my view that our money is better spent on books. There have been male shirts in there which have not even been taken out of the boxes they arrived in.

It puzzles me why people would do this. I cannot imagine wasting money in this way.

But buying a brand new shirt for me from a shop in the shopping centre? Me, do that? 

Now I know the women who work in one of the shops. There is usually only one woman there at any one time though. If they need a quick break and I am passing they know they can ask if I can stand there and guard the shop for five minutes. (The centre regulations state that they are not supposed to close the shop but of course people do need to do so from time to time.) I don't mind if I have the time. 

So, once in a very long while, if they know I am looking for something they will give me a wave as I go past and bring out something they have put aside. I bought a shirt in there about eight years ago. It was missing a button and it had been marked right down. It was just the sort of thing I will wear so they marked it down a bit more and I changed the buttons. I've worn it a lot since then. It is now well past being my "best" shirt. There has been nothing in the charity shop  either so I took a deep breath and prowled in yesterday. The entire contents of the shop were "half price". 

I know enough about the "rag trade" to know they are still making a profit at "half price" but I  was prepared to spend some money - well, I knew I would need to spend some money.

I  prowled around the shop while C... was serving several customers. They went away with parcels and then C... said, "Come on Cat! I know what you need. Here, your size."

She held up a shirt. Ugh! Canary yellow? I think not. She laughed and "suggested" a couple of other items she knew I would not want. 

Then, more seriously, she took down a green check affair and said, "I  think this might be more you if you get someone to shorten it." 

I looked at it. Yes, me. It was designed to hang around below the hips of a normal size human. Being a short cat it was almost long enough to be a dress on me . But, I liked the fact that it was actually pure cotton. I liked the feel of it. I liked the colour and the rest of the style.

I sighed and wondered if I could ask my neighbour D... who does sew if she could shorten it to a reasonable length. Would it spoil the "line". C... took it over the counter and folded the end underneath itself. We looked at it. She pulled out a tape measure. She measured me and then measured it.

"It will be just fine. Now you needn't buy another one for a while."

I bought the shirt. I stood there and guarded the shop while she rushed off to the loo. By the time she returned I had two customers lined up ready to buy - shirts. They apparently find it a lot easier than I do to buy clothes because they both bought two each. 

Why do I find it so difficult?