Shopping for clothes

As I promised, I went shopping yesterday, mainly to get some new knickers. But, I thought, while I'm out I may as well see what other goodies there are for me in the shops! I started off in Marks and Spencers and BHS, in the underwear sections. I was not surprised to find that as a size 20 now, I still don't get a lot of choice. There were row upon row of size 8 through to 16, then a smattering of 18s and about three 20s! Still, I managed to find some I liked and bought them. I then turned my attention to trousers. Those I have been wearing recently are all getting ridiculously large, to the point where I can easily take most of them off without undoing buttons or zips. An amazing thing happened – I picked a pair off the rack, size, 20, and tried them on – they fit!! OK, so this may not sound very amazing, but believe me, this hasn't happened for many years! Usually, I have to set aside a whole day just to buy one pair of trousers. I have to search high and low before I even find any the right size, and then try on at least a dozen pairs before I find a pair that fit. And do you know what has been the most disheartening thing about buying trousers in the past? I almost always end up buying a pair that actually, I don't like, but I have no choice – I just have to buy what fits no matter what the style or colour or price tag. In the last couple of years I have had to resort to buying men's trousers which is the most dispiriting thing ever. Yesterday was different, the pair I picked off the rack was a pair that I liked the look of – and they did actually fit!

I bought a second pair of trousers – jeans - after trying a few more pairs of trousers. I discovered that I am definitely a size 20 at the moment – which is a drop of two sizes – I had previously been a large 24. The amazing thing about this buy was that I got them from Dorothy Perkins. I'm not really sure why I even went in there – I didn't really expect to actually be able to find anything big enough to fit me. In reality, they had quite a good selection of size 20 clothes. So there you go, another first, a Dorothy Perkins buy!

After the trousers, I turned my attention to T-shirts. I wear them a lot for work. Currently I have three or four favourite T-shirts that I wear all the time. The problem is, they are all starting to hang on me and look a little like mini-dresses! I looked around the shops - in the women's section, of course, - but found nothing that I liked. I have to confess at this point that I am, and always have been, something of a tomboy – so frilly, lacy, 'pretty' things don't attract me or suit me. I found what I wanted in the men's section at BHS and bought two T-shirts that fit me just right!

So all in all, I ended up with five pairs of knickers, two pairs of trousers and two T-shirts – a successful shopping spree by all accounts! I also came back suitably buoyed knowing that I have dropped two 'dress' sizes in women's clothes and moved from large to medium in men's!