Well, let me first apologise for not having blogged for quite a while; I’ve been busy, but I’ve also been lazy and indulging in that procrastination I talked about not that long ago.  But onwards.

Like a lot of people I love ebay.  It never fails to amaze me some of the crap that people will attempt to sell or that some muppet, somewhere, will most probably buy it.  I’ve sold a fair amount on there myself, I had a wardrobe full of dresses I’d never worn and knew I was never going to wear so I got rid of them.  Had I have thought about it a bit more carefully I probably would have started them off at more than 99p because a lot of very nice things went for pretty much bugger all.  But so what?  They weren’t doing anything and collectively they made me a fair bit.

I’ve run out of things to sell now so I spend lots of time looking for things I might like to buy.  It’s fun.  Especially if you can get stuff really cheap, which you can if you’re prepared to look.  I’ve recently bought some tops and trousers for me and a load of baby clothes for the Popster.  That’s right, I buy baby clothes on ebay.  Second hand!  And no, they aren’t all covered in poo and sick, I’ve managed to get some very good stuff for a song.  Now, if you go to the right places (i.e. supermarkets and Primark), you can get some pretty cheap baby clothes but if you get a fair few bits and pieces it soon mounts up.  And the thing is with kids that they have this annoying habit of growing, and continuing to grow until eventually they stop growing only to declare themselves big enough to buy their own clothes.  It’s rather inconsiderate.  So, with the exception of vests and sleepsuits, I buy pretty much everything for her on ebay.

Obviously I don’t just buy any old crap in her size, I like to think I’m a bit more discerning than that but, again, if you’re prepared to put the effort in there are some real gems.  Something I can’t believe, however, is how much “designer” stuff is on there.  In a bundle of clothes I got today there’s a DKNY t-shirt and a Levi’s denim skirt as well as some other stuff that purports to be designer.  I am clueless so couldn’t tell you if it is or if it isn’t.  But I had a look and stuff like that bought new costs upwards of £20.  £20!  For a single item of babywear!  I’m hard pressed to spend £20 on a single item of clothing for myself, never mind for a baby that will have grown out of it in about 5 minutes.  What is wrong with people?  Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice and everything but there’s no way I’d have bought them if they hadn’t been in a bundle with tons of other clothes for 30 quid.

I fail to understand why people want to parade their children around in labelled clothes.  Surely it’s more important that your child is clean and happy?  It seems to me that these people are displaying their children as a status symbol, in much the same way that they do when they buy ridiculously expensive buggies and prams.  “I’ve got a Bugaboo Bankruptme”, “well, I’ve got a Silver Cross Sawyoucoming”, “oh, well we plumped for the Quinny Can’t-get-anything-in-the-shopping-basket-but-it-still-cost-an-arm-and-a-leg-and-we-had-to-buy-this-matching-rucksack-for-another-hundred-notes for our *little one*”.  It’s a competition, you know, between self-styled “yummy mummies” (vomit), who know nothing about parenting but think it’s very important to have the most ridiculous looking expensive buggy or pram on the market to impress all the other mummies.  Or make them jealous.

This makes me cross.  I seriously doubt the necessity of an “all-terrain pushchair” in the middle of suburbia, especially when most mummies rarely dare to venture out of their illegally parked Chelsea tractor other than to nip and get their nails done.  And I also doubt these all-terrain jobs are any more hard wearing that the reasonably priced travel system that we got for the Popster.  But I’ll let them get on with their shallow competitions, happy in the knowledge that while they’re ringing up I’vespentallmymoney Direct to take out an IVA or declare themselves bankrupt, I’m picking up their hand-me-downs on ebay for peanuts.