Staines Part Simon’s Number to the Power of Infinity times 1,000,000 Infinities (Blog 474)

From extreme over gym use, I realised my trainers were starting to split in two on Tuesday. I actually noticed my shoes were letting in water in rainy weather a few days before that, but didn’t think anything of it. You’d think I would right? As shoes are famous for keeping your feet dry? Clearly not. But new shoes would be all I’d be getting in Staines, I’ve bought enough milkshakes and CDs in the town, lately. New shoes, home that’s it. Well maybe a muffin, too. Before leaving my house, I was planing on saying to a member of staff ‘give me your cheapest, tackiest shoes imaginable, please. I’ll only be using them for running and stuff!’ Then I thought better of it, and decided to do some more normal shopping instead. Fit in, Simon, it’s important. To start the trip, I bought some grapes from the local petrol station. A perfectly mundane and easy thing to do, right? Not completely, as it always takes me a good few minutes to check all the doors are shut, etc. when leaving my abode. It really sucks!

Soon enough, I bought my grapes! Great! Nope, I just remembered, what if the shops in Staines weren’t open yet? I’d have to go back home, browse the internet, and when finding out the shops were indeed open, I’d have to check everything AGAIN and then leave for the town. >:( The first things I planned on buying in Ali G’s place of birth were a repeat of vitamin D supplements. But what strength??? I asked a staff member the super vague question ‘what dose is normal?’ and she recommended ‘high strength’. High strength? It didn’t ring a bell, but be normal Simon! Buy the normal tablets and move on with your day. Next came the shoe buying. As explained I wanted the cheapest shoes possible, as I only really wanted them to take hardcore abuse at the gym, but the cheapest ones I found actually looked pretty good!

After trying them on, I decided to buy them. I was then told to donate some money to charity. I asked how much, and was told ’20’. 20 pounds??? That would be almost the price I paid! I asked the shop keeper if that was right, and to my relief he said 20p. Phew! I get times are hard for some people, but if every shop wanted that much of a donation, times would be hard for me, as well. I said I wouldn’t get another CD, but as I was making some notes in the quiet CD shop staircase, I was thinking to myself ‘Let’s just get one CD. A cheap one. Only £5.’ Luckily I did find a £5 album, actually it was a penny less than that, even better! The real challenge would be resisting the super delicious milkshake, as I wanted to wait until I got a large one from 5 Guys in the Christmas period. You’ll be relieved to know I can actually fight temptation sometimes and I did, just then. (Although I got a muffin, instead). But I can’t fight when it comes to affordable music. I stopped myself from buying more expensive music, at least. Pineapple Thief will be for Crimbo, too.

Next came the Subway sandwich buying. What is the intriguing, new sauce, called ‘spicy chipotle sauce’? I’ve had regular chipotle, but the hot version? I’d have to give it a try. But would it work? I’m just asking that because I’ve only ever put chipotle sauce on meatball subs, this time I bought a pepperoni and ham sub as they are a lot less messy and I didn’t want to get food all over my car or my computer when I ate it at home. The gamble paid off! A tasty, spicy sandwich, great. A perfect trip out, then? Annoyingly, when I got back, my dad said it would be my niece’s birthday in a few days. I should have bought her a present! Not only that, I found I bought the wrong strength of vitamins!! Hang on… why not give the supplements away as a thoughtful, healthy gift?? Kill two birds with one stone?? No. I’ll just have to buy her some chocolates, maybe.

As I was typing the prior up, what music was I listening to? My new album? (A Sepultura album). You’d think so, but actually I was listening to Porcupine Tree, again. The thing is, it’s supposed to be listened from start to finish in one go and thus there was nothing I could do after putting it on. Why did I put it on? Because it’s too damn good. When it was finally finished, THEN I could give my thoughts on Sep. So, here goes: Not bad! That’s a relief as when I bought 3 CDs from Kingston recently, I didn’t really like any of them. In the more recently picked up release, I noticed how there were some parts that had a combination of clean and distorted guitars at the same time. That’s kinda annoying, as in a recent Metal Rules album review, I explained another band using the same instrumentation was pretty unique. I guess not. At least the runner of the site never heard the Sep album the instruments come from? I find that extremely unlikely as it’s a classic. Whoops. And bye!