Ready for summer
The week before Christmas and Auckland’s malls are overflowing with present hunters. I head down to Albany Mega Centre to buy my last few gifts and find myself easily enticed by the amazing collection of things for summer. Presents for me = Lots. Presents for others = None.
I’ve been very organised this year, buying a few Christmas presents at a time since the middle of October. Even still, there are a handful more to buy so I pop down to the Albany Mega Centre with a few people in mind.
I start in EziBuy looking for something for my mother. She loves her bright colours and florals and as I’m parking the car I notice a few things in the window that would be perfect for her. As I wonder through the store I see a number of items I like including: a tee shirt dress; a simple linen layering dress for slouching around the house; chino style shorts and a beautiful Grace Hill Spring dress with a stunning Indian-inspired print. I remind myself that I’m not here for me but the ‘early boxing day sale’ signs everywhere are very convincing. I’m sure I’ll find something for mum in one of the other stores in the Mega Centre.
I pop into Farmers Home next door. I need something for my sister, Sharon. We’re going to hers on Christmas Day so something for her new house would be nice. The options seem to be endless and a number of things catch my eye. My sister and I have similar tastes so buying for her is usually easy. I’m drawn to the Terrace Al Fresco Bamboo range of dinnerware with their ivory colour and beautiful diamond print. I pick a salad bowl with matching servers and head to the counter to pay. As I stand there I think about how good the salad bowl would look at our summer BBQs. I decide to keep the bowl and find something else for Sharon somewhere else at the Mega Centre.
As I load the car, I spot Rebel Sports out the corner of my eye. My nephew, Bryce, is very sporty so there’s bound to be something there for him. From the entrance, I see there’s a sale on in shoes and remember that I need to get new walking shoes to take away on holiday. What a great collection and excellent prices. After trying on a few, I find a very comfy, and stylish, pair of Sketchers. They’ll be perfect for our summer walks so I buy them.
As I’m driving home, contemplating my many great purchases and how useful they’ll be this summer, I remember why I went to the Albany Mega Centre in the first place. There’s no going back today so I’ll just need to go again tomorrow. I saw plenty in EziBuy, Farmers Home and Rebel Sport for them. And there were a couple of other things I may need for summer…