Goodbye high street clothes shopping. Hello Amazon.

I have to admit I have been shopping online since long before I developed my Amazon habit (which started when I had my first Kindle and downloaded my reading matter)
Most quality clothes labels have a website and the selection stocked in shops seemed to be becoming more and more limited.
I would not buy clothes from Amazon but lockdown 1 meant it had to be my first port of call for many domestic products. I have also grocery shopped on line for over 10 years as a lifesaving convenience as full time work often left me too knackered to face a Friday night in Sainsburys!
So lets not blame Anazon for everything certainly not the demise of the High Street that started with out of town shopping malls offering covered access to the shops, easy and usually free parking , coffee shops and restaurants.
Everything evolves and sadly the High Street's only defence would have been to become a destination shopping experience in itself. There are still.places like that- market town squares with independent and artisan shops and cafes but Covid has dealt their death knell - not exclusively Amazon - it just happened to have had the infrastructure ready in the right place at the right time.
What happens next? Those who can adapt will survive but we cannot turn the clock back to "Peter and Jane" going shopping with Mother who carried her shopping in a dinky wicker basket.

You have been so unfortunate to pick up Covid because I believe you are fairly isolated having seen a photo of your house once. Get well soon.

I hope you feel better soon, biba

Ps it was a genuine question - my DD worked in Switzerland a while ago now.

I was bilingual within 6 months. For me, learning the language of your host country is absolutely essential, at any age, to show respect.
I'm having a bit of a struggle with Welsh, to be truthful.

I may learn Italian in the New Year.

Amazon apart (which I find useful for personal items such as particular dressings, vitamins, little things for my grandchildren.), I think a big problem with high street clothes is companies like M&S, Debenhams etc did not listen to their main shoppers and bought out tired items again and again, for example no cotton or wool, no sleeves, wrong sizing, mini skirts (fine for the size 8 figure).:they tried to appeal to younger people who get their clothes elsewhere. I miss the high street too and I fear for our future.

Wishing you a speedy recovery biba70

Some analysts have predicted for some time that the city centre as a shopping destination has had its day
“City centres as an entertainment centre are becoming the normal. Trading retailers are moving to out of town retail parks and online which in the overall plan of things makes perfect sense. Parking is easy, access for deliveries and customer pick-ups are easy and costs are generally lower.

“COVID-19 did not cause this transition, it simply helped to speed it along.

“Time to leave the high street for bars, coffee shops, restaurants and night time entertainment. Large shopping malls and out of town retail estates that are not weighed down by pedestrian and cyclist issues and do not create traffic gridlock to anger the environmental supporters will be the normal of the future.”

Sorry to hear that Biba - do you know where /from whom you got it!

LOL - get it now.
ah well just tested positive with Covid - so need to look after myself and OH and keep stress free- so will leave you to it for some time.

Paracetamol alternated with Ibuprofen- rest, keep isolating- and keep away from anything unpleasant.

But , then, I don't live in England myself either

?????.

Callistemon

I am genuinely puzzled, though, biba

Why would you ever have thought of leaving an idyllic spot in a beautiful country which is not part of the EU but in the single market (what many people here seem to want), clean, fresh with lovely people who are tolerant, fair with a great sense of humour for a shit-tip of a country like the UK?
Full of litter, intolerant bigots, no nice independent shops, ridden with plague, floods and probably pestilence too? No blue skies either, well, only occasionally.

I am puzzled.

But , then, I don't live in England myself either.

I know many British expats who left because they didn't like the UK anymore, and preferred other landscapes, more sun, etc. Oh and those- and they are the best (!) who left becasue there were too many foreigners in the UK, who could not speak the language, ate their own foods and went to their own Churches and 'clubs' - and went to Dordogneshire or the Costas - and did .... exactly that! And the irony is totally lost on them.

We never 'left' - we went to look after my amazing parents, in their hour(s) of need - fell in love with an old house in the mountains, and stayed longer than expected. And made sure we kept one foot firmly in the UK- as well as our family and a huge part of our heart. Believe me- or not.

I am foerever extolling the wonders of Englad, its fabulous towns and villages, history, food, cheeses, people and the qualities I mentionned before- here. Always been a true two-way Ambassador for everything British I love, and Swiss- European too. Loving one country does not preclude loving another- absolutely- and also criticising what is not so good, and what is currently turning very sour and unpleasant.

Why on earth am I justifying my choices again- FGS.

So Calli, why did you leave this wonderful Isle(s)?

I was bilingual within 6 months. For me, learning the language of your host country is absolutely essential, at any age, to show respect.

Spending your life serving the community, is not a 'get out of jail' card for having opinions, behaving or living in a way that is contentious.

Maybee70 you may live in a zenophobic backwater, and that is very unfortunate for you, but I live in the area where the Oxford vaccine was developed, a region with research heavy industry, a cosmopolitan society and which voted resoundingly to Remain. I do not know anyone of any age who voted for Brexit.

biba and her husband devoted their whole working lives serving the community in the U.K. and then only returned to Switzerland to look after aged parents. imo she loves the U.K. far more than the people that have, imo turned it into a xenophobic backwater. Some people on this forum jump on everything she says (you know who you are). It doesn’t go unnoticed.....

I am genuinely puzzled, though, biba

Why would you ever have thought of leaving an idyllic spot in a beautiful country which is not part of the EU but in the single market (what many people here seem to want), clean, fresh with lovely people who are tolerant, fair with a great sense of humour for a shit-tip of a country like the UK?
Full of litter, intolerant bigots, no nice independent shops, ridden with plague, floods and probably pestilence too? No blue skies either, well, only occasionally.

I am puzzled.

But , then, I don't live in England myself either.

?
A GN discussion

A: "The sky is so blue here today."
B: "No it isn't.
A: "Yes, it is."
B: "Well, it's more of an azure blue than a cobalt blue."
A: "I never said it was cobalt blue."
B: "Well, you implied it."
A: "No, I didn't."
B: "Yes, you did."
A. ''No I didn't''
B. ''Ah bur you are foreing, so who are you to talk about the colour of OUR sky''

It was of course bluer before Brexit - sort of EU blue rather than red, white and blue, blue.

We Are Not Allowed To Go Shopping

And, if people are, they are criticised for spreading the virus.

What could be plainer than that?

Callistemon

Are you coming back here to live post-COVID, biba, to support your local businesses?

Perhaps, one day, that was always the plan. We went to my birth country to support my very elderly ill parents- they have gone now. We have kept a small property in the UK, just for that purpose, and because we like to come very regularly- because we love England, our market town, the amazing countryside, the lovely villages and pubs- and so so much more. And our daughters, family, great friends. Things are expensive where we live, so I buy everything we need when in the UK, apart from day to day food.

However, with what has been happening recently, and I am not talking Covid here- the thought of returning is becoming less and less likely by the day. What I/we love about the UK seems to be disappearing very fast, tolerance, openess, fair play, humour- all the best bits- going, going, fast. As illustrated perfectly on a daily basis on GN. And which are so much more important than shops and town centres- but they go together.

If England (and I talk about England because this is what I truly know about) - loses its beautiful towns and villages and their quintessentially English/British character- it would be a massive shame. The charateristics above much more so.

As said, what is the point of doing all the massive damage done by Brexit to 'get our Country back' and then to shoot it ... in the back in the next gesture. Sense? NO:

biba???

GN has a good line in xenophobia.

Urmstongran

Wow! Just like Brexit.
Pick a side ladies!

I’m with Amazon.
?

A GN discussion

A: "The sky is so blue here today."
B: "No it isn't.
A: "Yes, it is."
B: "Well, it's more of an azure blue than a cobalt blue."
A: "I never said it was cobalt blue."
B: "Well, you implied it."
A: "No, I didn't."
B: "Yes, you did."
A. ''No I didn't''
B. ''Ah bur you are foreing, so who are you to talk about the colour of OUR sky''

Are you coming back here to live post-COVID, biba, to support your local businesses?

As said, it makes no sense whatsoever to say 'get our country back' - and then destroy it by shopping at Amazon and co. What was the point then???

Chewbacca- it has, for now. But it is up to us, when Covid is over- to help them survive and thrive. Support our local businesses and staff. It is OUR behaviour, OUR support- yours, mine, everyone's - that will make the final decision.

Every cloud has a silver lining Chewbacca, as my dear Mum used to say!

?

I like Woolovers but you cannot tell from the pictures how thick some sweaters are.

I sent for Woolovers knitwear, M0nica and was surprised to find that all were Made in China.