Oxford Street in "Not Driving Me to Despair" Shock

It’s been a while since I’ve willingly ventured onto the pavements of Oxford Street.

Quite frankly, the crowds alone usually make me want to run away yelling “Noooo, get thee to Westfield; lay me at the doors of West London’s premiere soulless indoor monster. All is forgiven”, and that’s before you consider I’m usually also looking for the perfect selection of clothes that, in all likelihood, probably don’t exist.

But after the success of Monday’s shopping outing, I feel I’ve been unfair, and one should never judge an area by the ratio of happiness to hatred alone. So in the spirit of keeping this blog about things I like, here are some winning moments from yesterday’s shopping trip.

Excited? Yes you are.

Monday is the new Saturday

Never mind waiting until Thursday, it seems like pretty much every big shop is now open until 9pm during the week. So if you head to Oxford Circus for about 6:30pm, you’ll only have to elbow tourists out the way for about half an hour before they all bugger off to the Angus Steak House for dinner, leaving you rail upon delicious rail of clothing for you to rub your face in (just kiddin, Topshop)

Wifi is ALL AROUND YOU

While repeatedly checking my phone for remote signs of life, I found that a lot of the big shops like House of Fraser now offer free wifi in store, thus giving customers the chance to find products cheaper online – which is incredibly thoughtful of them. It also means bored shoppers / reluctant friends / girlfriends / boyfriends / wives / husbands can now tell 400 Facebook friends exactly what shop they’re in at any given time. And I think I speak on behalf of everyone who enjoys reading an endless stream of pointless Facebook check-ins when I say “Hurrah for that!”

Uniqlo is the best place for short people to buy jeans

If you’re 5 ft 3 and planning on buying a pair of jeans, Uniqlo on Oxford Street will blow. Your. Tiny. Mind. Seriously: They do free, same day alterations on any pair over £20 – and when I say same day, I actually mean same evening. As in, you hand them over at 7pm, and your newly sized trews are ready within 20 minutes. It’s a revelation.

The shops make an effort, even when sodden

Finally, I liked this. A nice touch of apologetic Englishness from a rain soaked Hackett on Regent Street:

Alright, Oxford street: for now, all is forgiven.

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