Jean's Hat

In Perth this evening to pick up my Mum who has come down to childmind J over the weekend while we go away to Co. Durham with Al, Jean and Phil. It is Jean's birthday on Saturday and I thought I could go to the open-late Tiso on the outskirts of town and get her a hat, scarf and gloves from all of us for her to don during the walks we'll be doing in the autumn and winter ahead. I have been instructed by Al to purchase the most gaudy and garishly coloured set I can find. I have never been in this big new Tiso store before but I have heard positive things said about it. As I walk through the door I am confronted by the womenswear section. I have to have a browse of course. Now I am currently size 14 from the waist down but regrettably (to my mind anyway) I do have a hefty chest and take at least an 18 for the top half of my body. I am looking at some fleeces and they only go up to a 16. Maybe they've sold the ones in larger sizes I think to myself. So I look at the next rail of fleeces - same thing - up to 16 only. So I look at some more items - some jackets this time - again only up to a 16. There is no item of womens wear here larger than a size 16 and it then furiously dawns on me that seemingly in Tiso-world they don't think you should be participating in outdoor activities if you?re a big girl. I do not anger easily but somehow this got my blood boiling and I start ranting and raving to Ken about it: "So Tiso don't believe that women with breasts should be doing outdoor pursuits eh? What a crock of ****". There is no way back from my annoyance at this point and I know that nothing I will see in this shop now will please me - I am going to find fault with everything! In fact I was actually about to turn tail and walk out when I remembered about Jean's present and if I hadn't had to get something for her then I would have quite happily left this shop and never set foot in it again. I went upstairs to see if the hats etc were there and all the way I was muttering "This is a rubbish shop, it really is" and my feelings were compounded when I found that there were no brightly coloured hats of any sort in this store. No doubt that sort of thing is far too common for the sort of clientele they wish to attract - casual walkers like us are clearly not professional outdoor people and therefore should stick to Millets. Infuriated now beyond belief, not least because what the hell was I going to get Jean for a present now? (it's after 6pm, Millets et al. in Perth City Centre are going to be closed now). I stomped down the stairs and stomped around the ground floor with a face that undoubtedly looked as if I'd been sooking an entire bag of sour sweets in one go. Nothing appealed to me as a potential present for Jean - but let's face it - it was never going to was it? My rage at their apparent size prejudice and lack of bright headgear made me really not want to give them any custom of any kind from me so I huffed out of the shop.

Ended up in Tesco later for food shopping and had a look there "just in case". Nothing gaudy and garish as requested but they did have this grey and pink hat. Sent this photo to Al for approval and he gave it a thumbs up. What else could we do under the circumstances? We weren't going to have the opportunity to go try anywhere else before Saturday. So here's Jean birthday present (and it?s price!) for all to see!

When I got home and calmed down a little I checked Tiso's website and they do have some size 18 stuff on there. Perhaps I over-reacted slightly then but I am still cross at not finding anything of that size in that huge shop of theirs in Perth which they claim is one of the largest interactive outdoor stores in Britain. How can it be so big yet they haven't room to stock their full range of sizes?