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In the afternoon we decided to go into town to window shop. Nothing's better than window shopping and trying on clothes we can only afford to look at.

Once Kathy and I braved the early morning mist one cloudy January day and sat by the store, waiting for the doors to open at 9. Flask in hand and enough layers to keep our body temperature warm until the mad surge forward, we waited patiently for that moment to happen. The constant drizzle kept us awake as we stood there until the doors opened a few hours later when the whole crowd sounded out their relief and made for all corners of the shop floor, bags trailing after them and coats loosely flung over arms and shoulders whilst others lost coats, children and even bags and scarves.

As hands touched garments after garments of all sizes and colour, I fingered a pair of tracksuit which was snatched out of my hands before I could look around at the culprit.

Hungry and exhausted from our morning rampage', we headed up to the cafeteria and sat down to a good brew and scones, reveling in our purchases and comparing our bargains as we proudly showed off our bargain prize'.

Kathy, what do you think of my new joggers? Do you see me going down the shops in these? Wonder what Debs will say when she sees me running past her new BMW? Do you think she'll think I'm pre-hist? Or maybe just a tad neurotic?'

At that moment, I was jolted back into the store where I was standing by some shoe racks where Karen was trying on a pair of trainers. She tied the laces up and took a look in the mirror. Yes they fitted her for once, which made her chuckle to herself.

Just what I need for going jogging'.

That's good then. Not bad either.' I remarked, happy she'd found something she liked and found useful.

Got to be been a while I'd found anything good.'

I nodded. She went off happily in search of a small water carrier for her weekly jog on the common. Had she known she'd run into a school friend and spend the rest of the morning catching up on lost time, she'd have remembered to bring some photos she'd taken over the Christmas holidays of her holding a mistletoe over Mike, her lecturer, as he held a drink up to the camera and pointed at Karen as she was singing the George Michael pudding mix special of Last Christmas'.

Both giggled so loudly, they were in immediate danger of being thrown out of the store by a burly security guard who'd walked by a few times.

Meanwhile I had spent the whole morning going over old grounds in search of Karen as I thought she'd got lost in the crowd. I even phoned her mobile to see if she'd answer it but got her recorded message instead. Eventually I'd given up looking for her and carried on looking for more bargains until I'd bought enough clothes to fill the wardrobes in the spare room. Couldn't be helped couldn't avoid a bargain - wasn't going to.

That evening I settled to a good meal in front of the telly, unable to move an inch for standing all afternoon. The phone rang. It was Sandra, Karen's older sister. She'd been out all day with a friend and wanted to see if I wanted to go down to the Fox and Hound with her, Kevin her boyfriend and a few friends.

Even my sales' jogging pants weren't ready for a long night out either so I had to turn down that pint of John Smiths as reluctantly as I could. Meanwhile, Karen had spent the whole afternoon in the Lost Property department of the train station looking for her bag. Apparently she'd left it on the seat whist showing her friend the trainers she'd bought to go jogging.

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