If only . . .

What a difference a month makes.  It’s barely a month ago that  I was in this very same store searching for an artificial Christmas tree.
And there was plenty of choice. A complete aisle still packed with  all manner of artificial trees ready for the festive season, then still to come.   Okay, the space was cleared well before Christmas, no doubt to make room for a completely fresh range of goods like flatpack furniture and other  DIY commodities for the inevitable post Christmas selling time.
In hindsight what I should have done was to make do with the artificial tree we have had for several years, and gone shopping for my tree and other festive decorations today, and then stowed them away ready for next Christmas.  That undoubtedly would have given me a worthwhile saving, although perhaps not quite the same expectations from the new tree and decorations to adorn it, bought just a month ago.
Penny pinching? Scrooge like?  Not a bit of it; simply on the look out for a bargain. Although I acknowledge I would most likely have faced all those accusations had I not left buying our Christmas tree until today.

Well, the theory is good, even if in practice it would have counted against me!  As it happened, today the store did not have the particular variety of plumbing accessories that I was really looking for!