Online Shopping

As far as shopping-addictions go, nothing beats wandering around a book shop, leafing through the latest paperbacks with appealing covers (yes, I judge books by their covers quite regularly). Or the thrill of spotting that one really original, cool pair of sneakers on the shelf between all the crap at Foot Locker. And then walking out the door, laden with bags, just waiting to be unwrapped and repeatedly admired at home. Or, as the case may be, thrown into a cupboard to be forgotten for years (as is the sorry fate of a few too many purchases in this world).

Not that I'm a serious shop-a-holic. I have my moments, I admit, but I can restrain myself and since the advent of the internet I spend more time researching my purchases than using them half the time. Which brings me to online shopping. It's so much less satisfying than holding goods in your hand before dumping them on the counter next to the cash register, but there's a definite up-side, namely the moment the package arrives.

I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I still find it very exciting to receive anything bigger and more interestingly packaged than an envelope. Actually, even flat A4 envelopes are quite exciting. But nothing beats those brown, oddly-shaped packages from Amazon or, better yet, an office supplies company sending pens, pads and paperclips. Then ripping open the paper and inhaling that first whiff of the paperback pages as if you were actually in the shop. Mmmmm.

Actually the other day I received a package from Amazon containing two books I'd ordered. One was really fat and the other was small, which made for an exciting, odd-shaped package. But what I enjoyed even more this time, as I unpacked it was wondering what the Amazon employee must have thought when he or she had to pack The Baby Book (All you need to know about babies from birth to age two) along with White Line Fever (The Lemmy from Motörhead autobiography). Both cool covers though