Sunday, March 23, 2008

Gay men shopping

"I see you like to keep your shopping bags separate," I say to boyfriend P as we're queueing for the London Eye yesterday.

Although I reckon the London Eye is really for tourists, we'd decided that it would make a nice break from all the shopping that boyfriend P wants to do while he's visiting me in London over Easter.

"How do you mean?" asks boyfriend P.

"Well, while you were trying on those trousers in that last shop, I carefully put that small Molton Brown bag inside that big Top Man bag. But I see that you're carry them both separately now!"

Boyfriend P giggles.

"The rule is," he explains with a smile on his face, "you're not allowed to 'downgrade' something. Molton Brown is definitely a cut above Top Man, so I'll carry them separately because I can't fit the Top Man bag into the Molton Brown bag!"

"So what happens if we end up buying something from Gucci?"

"Do you really need to ask?" asks boyfriend P disdainfully. "All the stuff that we've bought so far would be upgraded by carrying it in a Gucci bag!"

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The London Eye is amazing! Even being born and raised in the city, it took my breath away. Why should tourists have all the fun? :-)

As for the shopping, I hit the department stores, the boutiques, then make sure anything from Primark is VERY well hidden... ;-)

Anonymous said...

You'll never get me on that thing. Fear of heights y'know.

Unknown said...

I am still having trouble because my boyfriend insists on recycling bags. It is very difficult if the bags that are kept are from Morrisons or Primark!

Anonymous said...

If a friend of mine is planning to go somewhere "downmarket", he will invariably find an excuse to take his own bag to the store to effect a quick "upgrade" of the goods as soon as he leaves. BF P might like that idea. x

Jiggy said...

To all the guys above (including your boyfriend) : whats wrong with carrying a primark bag? why do people have to pretend to be upmarket? i dont find anything wrong or obscene in carrying a primark bag...instead, if i see someone carrying a selfridges bag (and i can tell that most of them who do, reuse it a hundred times, and it is clearly visible) i find it utterly obscene...
i dont know...but somehow i don't understand people's efforts of projecting them as upmarket...

Sir Wobin said...

I was given two durable Waitrose "bag for life" style bags "to protect the environment" which I didn't mind using. Couldn't get The Husband to use them for grocery shopping because they are cheap gold sequin colour. Just too camp for the poor man! He's since bought some butch jute fabric Tesco reusables which he will use.

But that's grocery shopping. When buying nice stuff in town, I'm with GB in the school of efficient packing. Fewer bags means I can keep my hands free to fondle The Husband discreetly on escalators. ;-)

the amateur ear said...

Hahahaha!

This actually happened to me--as the top. This guy wanted me to go on and on and on and on. I thought he was being a bitch and unrealistic. I am not the energizer bunny. So I stopped seeing him. =)

Thanks for adding me to your blog roll!

GB said...

You're right China Blue, us Londoners deserve the fun as well :-). In fact it was the first time that I've been on the London Eye. I didn't enjoy the queueing though, but I've since discovered that I should have used their Fast Track service. Fast Track costs less than double a standard ticket and would have saved us 30 minutes of queueing!

It honestly didn't feel that one was that high up Diogenes, and it also felt perfectly safe throughout :-).

I think recycling is usually a good thing Bryn. But if you don't like the Primark bags, perhaps you could ditch those ones when your boyfriend isn't looking!

My boyfriend P is already on to that trick glhairyfxxker :-), I guess great minds think alike!

I agree that some guys are too image conscious A rebel all the way. And I certainly had no idea about my boyfriend P's classification scheme!

Good point Sir Wobin, free hands to fondle one's boyfriend is an excellent reason for efficient packing :-).

I think, failed misanthrope, that you meant to leave your comment on this posting! But thanks for the comment anyway :-).

GB xxx

Soul Seared Dreamer said...

LOL. Thats hilarious.. I'm liking P's style :o)

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with Primark and Morrisons? Maybe (a big maybe) Primark exploits child labour, but Morrisons? Just because it's from the North? Snobs!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article584174.ece

Anonymous said...

Nobody buys Gucci nowadays

Anonymous said...

"Nobody buys Gucci nowadays"

Hmmm, well apparently in my country people do still buy a lot of this brand. Enough so, that a gang of wannabes are christened as the "Gucci Gang" and have been pretty notorious because of a scandal that has been let loose by this Australian who got hoodwinked of his life savings.

Oh well... I have never been to London and I can only half guess the names of the brands (or stores) being mentioned, but what I do find universal is the gay man's penchance for, er, the acquired "image" he gets with the brands he buys.

Lovely... lovely and intelligent blog