If you look away for a while, it happens and you don't know it

I drove into the city for a doctor's visit this morning, so I decided to go to the mall afterwords to shop for 1) a tea kettle and 2) some short exercise pants. Not usually a big chore.

I went to a big mall where I have been many times in the past, but not lately. They have gone upscale! By that I don't necessarily mean that the merchandise is upscale, but the prices certainly are.

When I visited this mall regularly some years ago, there was a move in management to get rid of all "oversize" clothing. Only skinny anemic types wanted, I guess. I objected at the time, pointing out that a large number of their women shoppers were "oversize." That was true.

On this visit, there were no "oversize" women shopping because there was no clothing for them to buy. Maybe they were at Sears buying sheets, I don't know.

This really upset me because I wanted something new, but also because I keep hearing about our overweight population in the news. Apparently this shopping center hasn't heard the news.

OK! I'm shut out. I can't shop for clothing. But what about the tea kettle? I found three: a brushed metal, a fancy polished metal, and a copper teapot (that had to be kept polished) priced in the range of $60 to $130! This store is known for its quality cookware, but $130 for a tea kettle you have to polish? No way! With our hard water, even with care it will soon be full of mineral deposits.

Worse yet, I didn't really want any of them. The two most expensive ones were full of places for dirt and grease and mineral deposits to hide. The cheapest one had nothing to recommend the price except for the fact that when you tilted it, the lid to the spout came up. At least it could sing or something!

So, I had a nice lunch of chicken curry and rice and went home. I did get a good walk out of it. It was a nice day and Brighton, purveyors of all things expensive, gave me a bottle of branded water to drink while I gasped at the prices. Maybe she just thought I was thirsty.

Happy shopping.

Marilynne