The phrase “Wild Goose Chase” is first found in William Shakespeare’s in Romeo and Juliette, where it doesn’t end well!
My boxing partner at the gym is Birgit, the only woman with a licence to beat me up. We have a mutually violent relationship.
When she heard I would be in London, she said how she would love to go to Harrods- she would love one of their shopping bags and would pay me if I could pick one up for her. Birgit loves to shop. I knew that the idea that she could traipse around Mirada Fair (our big Shopping Mall for strangers) with a bag from Harrods had a lot of appeal for her, so I had full intention of making the effort.
The problem was Julie, does not love to shop so Harrods was not on our joint itinerary. When in Rome, Florence, Paris, London and Edinburgh our tour guides have warned all the males to keep close tabs on our wives, as we have passed the expensive shopping districts. I have no worries – Julie is not much interested.
The only opportunity appeared on our last day in London when Julie was determined to get some washing done at the laundromat. Everything was set up and there was an hour window from 8.30 until washing and drying would be complete. I power walked the 3 km across Hyde Park, past the Albert Memorial I had seen on our first day in London towards Harrods.
Prince Albert, known to many as”Albert the Good” was the 19th century equivalent of Prince Phillip, Consort to a very long lived English Queen and an interesting man in his own way. Victoria so mourned him when he died at 42, leaving 9 children to be raised, she had this massive monument placed on the site of the Great Exhibition he had organised in 1851. Prince Phillip is currently in Hospital, but he turned 92 yesterday! Get well Phil the Greek!
All sweaty I arrived at the massive Harrods store at 9am – surely it can’t be hard to find a shopping bag.
Locked up tight! No one in sight! Surely not a public holiday? it’s not Sunday?
Gold lettering on the door OPENING HOURS 10 AM to 8 PM. The English spending classes obviously sleep late!
No way I can wait. Powerwalk back, taking shortcuts and getting lost, so half hour late with nothing gained but sore feet. I guess I should have checked the Harrods website. Ah – they sell Harrods carry bags online on eBay, probably fake but Birgit will never know, unless someone tells her.
Woops!
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The REAL Harrods shopping bags do not even have Harrods name on them, they are rather plain and drab (“THANKYOU ROD THE REDICULOUS ” – I hear a muffled whisper)
Gary, Gary, Gary, I’m sooooooo disappointed, but soooooooo appreciate the effort. I boxed with John last week for the first time, he was ok but he wasnt you. I was going to be gentle with you when you got back but gee no Harrods bag, then again you did go to extraordinary lengths, however you did just publicly ridicule me (which I think you secretly enjoyed). Oh the dilemma, do I or don’t I beat you up when you get back. I’m counting the days partner, hurry back.
Ridiculed? How could you consider telling such a small portion of the truth ridicule? Glad to hear you are back to boxing. Three weeks from today we will be home. Monday we will be in Amsterdam. I am not sure whether you have heard of the massive floods in central ans Eastern Europe? Cruises have been cancelled for the past 10 days or so. Ours looks like it will be going ahead but maybe a different boat and some sections of the River we will have to bypass by bus. That’s life considering lots of dead and 50,000 homeless.
Gary
Several clans but I too went to Harrods across Hyde Park, when I went, London was in a heat wave and Hyde Park in London is a lot bigger than ours. I got a cab back to my hotel.
To help you out of your dilemma and facing ridicule I can let you have bags from Aldi, Coles, Footlocker in my Australian Collection, in my overseas collection two Windsor Castles, a Westminster Abby , the Tower of London and last but not least a small Harrods bag not really a shopping bag but it may lesson the damage in the first couple of rounds when you come back. Perhaps if you extend the trip it may be forgotten!! One of my bears comes from Harrods it was brought back by Tim my nephew as a present for me Arthur (Ashley) has a scottish piper bear also from Harrods. They have Harrods on their feet. I don’t know where Rod the ridiculous gets his information from but he should use better material. The Harrods bag is green with gold lettering. Perhaps he picked his up in a local market in Lithgow (NSW AU).
Hope Julie hasn’t been picked up by the local police. Simon will probably offer fashion advice in due course.
Russell
Doesn’t matter how long he extends the trip, it will never be forgotten. Women have a very long memory. LOL!
Russell – she is right about women and their memories.
After nearly 9 weeks gym free I have no chance of lasting the 60 minutes without serious injury. I
only have two chances. Maybe she might like an antique Harrods Teddy bear? I suspect not.
That reduces the chance to an early sneak shot and then run! Not sure whether I can out run you Birgit but I might have to find out.
You’ve seen me run Gary, so I’m sure you know you can outrun me, but you can’t hide. I’ll take the teddy bear.
ha ha that would be me Gary. Birgit & I were only talking about the anticipated Harrods bag. I said that Steve got me one when he was last in London. Hated the place – Harrods that is, but went just to get me a bag.
Is your Rhine cruise still a goer after the floods? I hope so?
Warm regards,
Di
Di we are in Amsterdam waiting to join the cruise tomorrow. The floods that some ports are closed so changed itineraries but most importantly, some boats won’t get under bridges in the flooded state. What happens the is a kind of boat/bus relay across Europe. When your boat gets stopped you pack, disembark and get bussed to the next boat. Not ideal but considering the death and property loss and the alternative of an early return to Oz we will grin and bear it.
I should tell about the end of the Goose Chase. After leaving London without a Harrods bag, we spent 8 days driving through England and Wales and 3 days in Edinburgh. During my “down time” I wrote my blog post about my Harrods failure. We flew from Edinburgh via London to Amsterdam. While waiting to be called for for the Amsterdam flight I noticed a Harrods shop in the airport, with a green bag. I decided that my story was too good to change! When I delivered the souvenir, it was with the comment “You remember the bag I missed out on? I lied”