Whatever Happened to Choice?

30 November 1999

Chloe's party was a success, if it is possible to describe it as that. In my opinion it was two hours of pure hell, but she was beside herself with excitement and got a million and one plastic presents to entertain her for months.

The make-up artists arrived and all the girls lined up to have their nails painted and adorned with sparkly stuff and stars. Even the boy had been catered for and found himself with black nails and a fake tattoo. Some of the girls wanted the tattoos too. Then they sat down to a massive feast of sweets, cakes, sandwiches and a sprinkling of healthy stuff which wasn't touched. I enjoyed the food bit and still am as the leftovers never made it to the bin – too much waste!

So my little girl is now 5 and enjoying her time at “big school” and seems to be a hit with the other children. What more can I ask? It was a bit odd watching her interacting with her friends. She was very proud of the house and kept pointing out to the others the jobs her Daddy had done. I kept hearing “my Daddy built that” or “Daddy made that for me”. Claire said that she felt like her hard work goes unnoticed. I told her that was because it goes in one end and out the other – good food is pretty short term when compared to a shelving unit.

My work is going OK. I am getting a little stressed over timing issues though. Doing a whole house is a lot of work for one person and I really haven't given myself enough time to finish. So weekends and evenings are on the agenda for the next two weeks. Claire is not going to be impressed. But in the future I will have some help, so I should be able to pull back slightly.

This week I have been finishing the en-suite which I have decided to deck out in large stone coloured wall and floor tiles. It gives the impression that it is more of a wet room than a bathroom, as it has a walk in shower too. The tiles are huge, which I figured would speed up the tiling process. This is true, but I didn't consider the fact that the walls needed beefing up to hold the things – they are blimmin heavy! So that was an extra half a day.

Then of course I have been let down by various suppliers. I know I go on about this every week (it seems) but what is it about certain retailers? You would think that with the economy doing what it has been, that they would work hard to keep customers happy. Like, I don't know, delivering when they say they will? I guess they realise, like the rest of us, that there is very little in the way of competition and if you decide to go to another supplier you can expect to pay loads more.

Whatever happened to choice? One day we will just go to one mega store, the size of a small town to do our shopping. They will give you electric carts to get about and you can buy everything from clothes, to fibreboard, to furniture, to screws as well as getting your lunch. But the staff won't have a clue and all the profits will go to some mega rich shareholders who sit on their arses all day!

Phew! That felt better. So in the next edition of the Marty Blog I am likely to be knackered and stressed. Not much changes, then!