Shopping in Smith Street

It's 30 years since I moved to Melbourne, and today I've been shopping in Smith Street Collingwood for the very first time. It was an incredibly successful shopping trip. I've managed to purchase much of my winter work wardrobe. One of the challenges I've been facing with my journey to becoming fitter and healthier is having to buy new clothes because I've been giving away my 'fat' clothes. Needless to say, it's a challenge that I've taken on with enthusiasm.

Mind you, it was a little more of a challenge than I expected. All went well at first. I arrived in Melbourne, went home for second breakfast (my stomach thinks I'm really a hobbit), and headed off to the gym as planned. I'm just starting a cold, so I decided to take it a little easy today. I did a 15 minute interval run, at 6 / 11 km/hr, and then walked for the next 15 minutes. I was happy with how the session went and all was well with the world. After my shower, I jumped in the car, ready to go shopping, and then disaster struck. I realised that I had no idea how to get to Smith Street. It didn't matter that I was starting from Yarraville instead of Deer Park. I didn't actually know where Smith Street was. I had a vague idea that it was somewhere over near Hoddle Street, but I didn't think driving around the general area of Hoddle Street would be a terribly effective way to find it.

Part of my grand plan last night was to check the Melways this morning before I headed to the gym. That was the part that I completely forgot today. I scanned the car for a Melways but, true to form, all the various editions were safely home in Deer Park rather than being in the car. I rang Erika with a plea for directions, and a possible shopping catastrophe was averted.

Mind you, if instead of suggesting we shop at the factory outlets in Smith Street I'd been told, go to St Vincents, head towards Maccas, swing left, and drive down the street a bit, I would have been fine. Isn't it amazing how you can negotiate a major city for years without actually knowing any of the street names?

It's not cold in Canberra yet, but it will be freezing shortly, so I concentrated on buying warm clothes. As we went past them, we dropped in to every sports clothing factory outlet we came across - Adidas, Brooks, Champion, Nike, etc. I successfully resisted the urge to buy any more sports gear until I had my work clothes sorted. The budget will only stretch so far. I need work gear for four days a week, as Fridays are casual days, so that's all I'm buying. I'm back on track, working towards my weight loss goal, so I'm hoping to return to Smith Street in a couple of months to buy the next size down. I'll hit the sports outlets then.

Mind you, and even I have trouble believing this, I'm getting tired of buying new clothes. I've had to buy everything, from underwear to outerwear, from casual wear to work wear, from sports clothes to dressy clothes, in several sizes now, and it's getting old. Not to mention expensive! Even my shoes have had to be replaced because my feet are thinner!

Please note: This is not a complaint. I'm absolutely thrilled to be doing this.

I'm planning to get to the gym tomorrow morning for a Body Attack class (yes, I've finally admitted to myself that I'm fit enough to try this one) and a weights session. If I can talk myself into it first thing, I'm going to run around the creek. It will be a good measure of how much I've progressed with my running over the past few weeks.