Since when do some big name stores not sell the same product as their other stores? I went to Manchester for the weekend today and the mission was to decorate my girlfriend’s bathroom. I got off the coach and headed into the nearby Arndale Centre to pick up the fixtures I had reserved at Argos, I was then going to get the bus and go to Wythenshawe Civic Centre to pick up the paint and brushes from Wilkinson’s.

As I came out of Argos I noticed there was a Wilkinson’s in the Arndale Centre, this would save me a good hour or so if I picked up the paint here. I found that they only sold cleaning products. All Argos stores sell the same stuff, all supermarket stores sell more or less the same stuff in all their branches, yet Wilkinson’s don’t?

When I got on the bus I sat in a seat and put all my bags on the seat next to me, there was plenty of room on the bus but five minutes later a fat woman with a screaming kid decided she wanted to sit next to me and didn’t wait for me to move my stuff, she sat on my bags and then got annoyed at me like I had put them there just as she had sat down. She sat on a toilet seat, a towel rack, a loo brush, and a cactus, among other things.

Because I was wedged in near the window there was nowhere else to put my bags so I had to balance my shopping and my suitcase on my lap while her screaming child threw a tantrum about her eating his crisps. That was the longest 45-minute bus ride of my life!

My girlfriend got on at St Luke’s and we went to Civic and got the paint and other bits that I would need. Painting starts tomorrow, tonight is cleaning and prepping, and judging by the state of the bathroom that might take the whole weekend!