For the remaining few months I remain here at WordPress.com I will blog like I used to; with storytelling.

To read about my first mishap that day, check out at the gas pump story.

After my latte at Starbucks I browsed Indigo, the huge book store probably resembling a Barnes and Noble, and sat down at one of the tables. It was empty, which was a surprise; all the tables in the coffee shop were taken but no one was reading in the bookshop?

As I began to sip my coffee I glanced at my phone, but I just couldn’t concentrate. I looked up and realized why: Prince Harry was staring at me from all the surrounding bookshelves.

I have zero desire to read this book, and it was weird sitting there surrounded by the Spare, as he was called, so I got up and left. I wanted to head over to The Bay, a large department store here in Canada, and check their lingerie department for much needed new bras and panties.

As I wandered through the the hallways of this mall I marveled at how many stores were gone, also how empty the mall was. 17 years ago I used to push a baby stroller through this very mall with a friend and her infant, and it was always busy. This time, not so much. And almost no baby strollers.

When I got to The Bay, a small crowd was gathered near the main gate. I wondered why and soon realized, the gates were still closed.

I checked my phone: 10:58 am.

Huh?

It was almost 11, the mall has been open since 9:30, but The Bay was still closed? On a Tuesday?

They must really be struggling.

After they opened I joined the small crowd and went upstairs to look for bras and panties. I always liked their selection, and they had many styles of comfortable, practical options as well as the sexier, racier types which always look better on the dummies than on a normal female body.

The escalator was broken so I had to walk up the stairs.

In the lingerie department there were three other ladies, much older than me, looking at Wonderbra or those boxes options. I went looking for the brands that simulated sexy bikinis because why not?

I circled the department twice. Not there. In fact, the entire bra and panties section had shrunk to a third in size.

Huh.

I lost interest and decided to look for some independent stores in the mall, like La Senza, La Vie En Rose and Victoria’s Secret.

Again, I wandered the empty halls. It was now going on lunch time and yet, the only place that was busy was the food court. The rest of the mall was quiet.

So weird.

The above mentioned stores I was looking for weren’t there either. Did they go out of business? Relocate?

I cut my losses and decided to drive over to the discount mall 20 minutes away. Since I’m rarely in the mood to shop for clothing, especially bras and panties, and I was willing that day, I figured I may as well try my luck there.

Naturally I hit construction traffic which delayed my trip by another 15 minutes. I barely recognized that area; I thought they were fixing the overpass, but it looked like they’re building something. Condos? New road? Expansion of the discount value mall?

No idea.

By the time I finally got there I really had to pee. After, I went into Winners and headed to the lingerie corner.

Believe it or not, I found something that seemed my size and wasn’t an ugly colour. Typically I wear black but for spring I sometimes wear other colours, and these were coral, taupe and something else, I forget. They were a three-pack: three tops and three bottoms.

The thing is, the bras and matching panties were attached to one hanger and each piece was attached by a plastic string-like fastener to the hanger.

This happened to me before and the fitting room lady simply removed one pair of the identical three items from the pack so I could try it on.

This time, the young Muslim girl behind the counter also offered to cut the fastener of the top item off when one of her colleagues, an elderly, Portuguese grandma-type appeared from the nearby shoe department and asked the girl why she was cutting the fastener off.

The girl looked panicked so I told the shoe lady I wanted to try them on.

“I just need one top and one bottom removed from the hanger,” I said.

“Why you want to try on,” shoe lady said in a heavy accent.

“To see if it fits,” I replied.

We were standing directly under the fitting room sign. 🙄

Well, shoe lady didn’t like that answer. She told the girl to stop cutting and to remove the security thingy that was attached, you know the one they need a special device to remove the top part from the bottom piece? I don’t know the name of it.

Removing that would have done absolutely nothing in terms of getting the bra or panties off the hanger, but the girl did what she was told and shoe lady handed me the items.

“Here, you try?” she said while simultaneously realizing the hanger was still attached to all six items, the three bras and the three panties.

I wasn’t even frustrated. I mean, I could tell the direction this situation was taking as soon as shoe lady appeared. At the moment, I was slightly amused. Normally, the seasoned older ladies were full of practical, no- nonsense advice.

Not this time.

After a moment or two, I told the shoe lady “never mind, I changed my mind”, thanked the Muslim girl for her help and left.

They said something to me as I left, but I was done. I just did care enough for that particular set anyway.

So, no new bra or panties for me. We’re in the depth of winter and no one knows what I wear underneath my multiple layers anyway, and no one cares either. (My Lululemon workout tank, if you must know, which surpasses comfort over any bra I ever owned).

Note to self, get a second Lululemon tank.

I did venture over to the La Vie En Rose, the same store I took my daughter to last year, but it was an equal waste of time. Lots of sexy, kitchy, impractical Valentine’s stuff, some Christmas kitch with reindeer and snowmen on it, or bulky fleece and plaid, ugh. Not what I needed.

Where am I going to find cute but not completely impractical undies and bras? What store serves the 50+ ladies like me without us having to fork over a kidney and two limbs?

A day later, I returned to a different Winners to see if I could find something there, and I did find a cute blue bra in a size just a little too small across my back. I didn’t even bother trying on.

I did try on a slinky little red dress though, the type young or very single women wear to a dance club to pick up men. (As if. 🙄) I had no intention of buying it, even though it was on sale, because when, and where would I wear such a thing?

But it was fun to try on. And truth be told, I needed some fun. I’m tired of slogging through the slog of this season. Also, upon seeing my reflection, especially from the side, I was suddenly encouraged to drop the pastry habit with my afternoon tea and get back to my Asana Rebel workouts. A few situps is going to re-strengthen my middle and make me feel better. 😎

Fun fact: I was never bold or confident enough to wear something like this in my 20s. I mean, I’m not wearing something like this out in public in my 50s either, but I’m trying it on and blogging about it on the world wide web, so there’s that. 🥴😀

Why not? I felt like it so I did it.

If not now, when?
Tomorrow never comes.

Like I said, a fun little diversion. The front view flatters more than the side view which boosts my self-image a little and gets me back to my workouts. It’s been exactly two weeks since my last workout. See? Silver lining.

Meanwhile, I will have to wait until after V-day I think to try and find bras and panties. Maybe by end of next month, they’ll get fresh shipments.

Until then… workout tanks will have to do.

After I left Winners empty-handed the snow was falling like predicted by the over-excited meteorologists. I follow one on twitter who has a dog named Storm, and he predicted a mess.

He was right. By the time I got home the power went out, twice, (longest was ten minutes) and we heard thunder and saw lightning, which is unusual during snowstorms.

But I got home safe, and now I’m regretting not buying the dress. 😉

PS. Workout day 1 complete. I already feel better. 💃

Thank you for reading along today! See you in the comments.