Why high street shops are dying out

High street shops are dying out; partly because they are normally in places difficult to get to in a car and as towns go greener, with more pedestrian areas, car parks a mile from the shops you want to go to, online competition being cheaper, so the reasons are fairly evident why greener means deader in many respects. Public transport here isn't bad, it's just not easy for someone who's legs ache and who has to avoid getting kicked, pushed or anything else which would damage the skin. But there's another reason, which is generally poor service, with a few exceptions. A spectacular example of this is: B&Q.

They have a horrible reputation, locally, but sometimes I've been tempted or forced into using them. I'm not a houseproud guy (although a lot of my male friends think I'm extraordinarily clean!), but occasionally I like to change the way a room looks - marginally most of the time. I'm happy with most of the house now, although the purple room still bugs me. (Purple because my ex insisted that it had to be that way; and then went out and bought a horrible electric streaky white and purple carpet. Yeuch.) Well, I've never been really happy with the lampshade at the top of the landing, as it's your typical cone-shape. And as you walk up the stairs, you get to see the lightbulb rather than the shade.

So when I saw a nice looking white shade made out of plastic which would conceal the bulb in B&Q's local giveaway pamphlet at under a tenner I thought - that's it. So I got into the car, gammy legs aching away, drive for 20 minutes, circle the car park until I can find a space where I can guarantee that nobody can park too close to my door (osteo=arthtritic knee) and hobbled my way in, up the stairs and after hours of wandering around find it; definitely the one. I hobble down the stairs, queue with aching knee until I get to the check out. Guess what, shows up at the original price. So I am not best pleased - I tell them it's less than half that price, so the weekend oick sends for some guy (who looked like a spiv) to do a price check - I reckon he's out the back having a cup of tea. He comes back and tells me that it's marked at the price on the shelf (and I know full well it isn't but my legs are giving out, the queue is a mile long and I will HIT this guy if I'm in front of his smirking face any longer).

Amazingly they have no copy of the bloody giveaway magazine, they have no access to the internet or their head office or their senior staff. I am so angry I have to leave. (If you're 6' 1" and 16 stone, giving someone a smack round the chops is only going to land you in a heap of trouble). They say if I come back with the giveaway then they will sell it to me at that price. I've already spent 1.25 hours, £1.20 on petrol getting this 'bargain', so doubling that is highly unattractive, but above is the picture of the object which is currently showing on their ****** website for £9.98. Goodbye B&Q; this is the last time you will ever yank my chain like this (try the time I bought some pvc corrugated sheeting needed another sheet, went back a week later and they told me they don't sell it and if they did, they don't any more)...

I won't recount the story of how my barber bought a bathroom suite where they delivered it with the cistern cracked and then refused to admit that one of their staff could possibly have done such a thing.... Sigh