My place of work has recently moved from just out of town to right in the town centre. This has several benefits:

- it takes off about five minutes from my commute time

- it means I’m centrally located, handy for meeting up with other centrally located people AND with the lucky studenty types who are free to wander the town centre during the day

- it means we all have to move seats. I think every company should make its employees change seats every couple of years, just to shake things up a bit. The effect of moving seats is that you get a new set of people to say hello to in the morning, and to listen in on your conversations in that open-plan-office sort of a way. Change is good.

- easy to pop out to the shops at lunchtime

- easy to pop out to the shops after work

- did I mention, the shops are nearby?

Anyway I’ve been determined not to spend my money rashly. But I have also been determined to find a dress for a wedding. And the main stipulation for this dress is that it has to be PERFECT. And I was willing to pay a fair price for perfection. I had a red dress in mind, maybe one of those ones with a net underskirt that flares out. Maybe silk. Silk is always good. It had to be a good fit and I had to feel comfortable in it..but not comfortable in the way that an old person feels comfortable in slippers. It had to be glamorous, flirty and fun while also being absolutely appropriate for a family wedding.

So I searched high and low. High street and low street and in-between street. Tried the designer outlets and the high street shops. Tried the expensive section of the cheap shops and the cheap section of the expensive shops. Some dresses looked great but weren’t in my size. Others looked amazing on the hanger but really not good on me. Others were fun but more for summer barbecues than for a wedding. I began to think I’m just not the dress-wearing type.

Then it happened. I walked into the expensive section of the expensive shop and I saw it: the Dress of Wonder. Green silk. Just above the knee, with a kind of flirtatious swooshiness to the cut. And a perfect fit. Well nearly perfect, the only trouble was it slipped off at the shoulders more than I’d like. And the other imperfection was the price. I could have just bought it, but it seemed like a lot to pay, especially when it wasn’t quite right around the shoulders. So I walked away.

See? I do have some will power. And then came back the following day and had another look and tried it on again, and discussed with the sales assistant whether a tailor could fix the shoulders for me. She wasn’t sure, so I walked away again.

And then one lunchtime I idly walked into the shop, just to gaze longingly upon the dress of wonder one more time. I was wondering how I would react if it had gone.. but it hadn’t gone. Wonder of wonders, delight of delight, it was still there, in perfect condition and … wait for it … was selling at FIFTY PERCENT OFF!!! It had gone from being slightly extravagant to being a perfectly reasonable price. So I bought it straight away and took it to the tailor, who agreed it was nice and said he could do something about the shoulders.

And I got it back today. And I love it.