Ok, a city centre on a Friday is not necessarily a sensible shopping solution, but sometimes it's unavoidable. So I ventured forth, bus pass at the ready (I love this free travel!) and joined the masses, standing room only by the time we got to Priory. Luckily, lots of passengers got off at the hospital and that made it more comfortable. Which is just as well seeing that the journey up Derby Road was a very slow one. Apparently someone has knocked down a traffic light in the busy city centre, and the repair means that the road has to be closed, thus causing major disruption and general chaos. So having left the house at 10.15, I had only got as far as a coffee shop by 11.30!
However, a wander around an art shop restored my equilibrium, and I felt refreshed enough to walk from one shopping centre to the other, calling at Waterstones on the way to investigate their 'language department' for my own present from my DH. I have asked for a 'nice' French/English dictionary for Christmas. WHSmiths, for whom I have a discount voucher, only had 'school' type dictionaries on their shelves, but I was looking for something a little more 'adult' and Waterstones had a nice one by Chambers.
HMV did not stock the Bandaged Together CD, even though Terry Wogan had implied that
they should have it, but I did buy his and Aled's 'Silver Bells' and Peter Kay's DVD for Children In Need.