The sister and I went to Silverburn today. Decided to leave home about lunchtime, hit the M&S sale with our Xmas vouchers and be home while it was still light.
It was fine getting into Silverburn. A wee queue, nothing much. We toyed with the idea of trying to park outside M&S's back door but in the end decided to head for the multi-storey, getting there just in time for the top floor to be opened up. For some reason, this seems to be a parking area that is totally verboten at any time except the New Year sale: normally the signs all indicate 'upper floor closed.' 'Upper floor suddenly open' is Valhalla for one wumman with arthritic knees and the other with torn ligaments: get a parking spot right at the door, the lift to the ground floor and bob's yer proverbial.
On our way round M&S, we heard a woman say she was there because she just wanted to 'get out for a wee while.' She had the whole family with her. Obviously, cabin fever had set in. This was not a professional shopper.
I've long since accepted the idea of supermarket shopping as a day out for the family. Normally I don't do in-store shopping: I shop online, with the occasional visit to the shop to see if the range of goods has changed any. Beats me why two adults need to force one toddler into a shopping trolley and drag the other child around by the arm in order to end up with nothing more exciting than chicken nuggets and Pampers. Given that a lot of supermarkets now have cafes (not always gourmet cafes, I admit, but they do sell chips) couldn't one parent spell the other? Is 'all in it together' now part of the wedding vows?
Sales shopping has to be approached as if you're a caveman dragging a mammoth back to the cave to feed the family. You need a list. Economy of movement. A sharp eye. The occasional snigger at what M&S thought people would buy. Really - those dresses? that top? No wonder they're down to 8 quid and still nobody is buying them. The sis and I scoured the rails, she ending up with 8 tops and me with 6. Trying them on left her with 3 and me with 3 to take home. Success.
We had a sandwich in the M&S cafe. I thought we might have to stare at some poor benighted man till he felt obliged to give up his table but no, we got seated right away and had the pleasure of watching two other women of advanced years do the 'is this seat taken?' routine. After a rest, we spent a happy half hour in the food hall.
Then we tried to go home. I reckon we live about 12 minutes by car from Silverburn on a normal day.
Just why exactly does Silverburn have only 2 entrances and two exits? So you can queue to get onto Peat Road or onto Barrhead Road? Either way, you're queuing. The Peat Road roundabout is to be re-drawn because it can't cope with the volume of traffic. Now that Silverburn has a multiplex cinema and a food court, why are people still having to park at the other end of the shopping centre and walk miles? Okay, no one knew it was going to be so popular when it opened but someone must have realised more shops + more restaurants + a cinema = more parking needed.
Can we get a grip here? It is cheaper now to run a car than it has ever been: road tax down, car prices down, fuel prices down. There are more people on the road than ever. And they are happy to travel longer distances for a night out.
If only the management of Silverburn could keep up, we could all enjoy it.
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