Bargain!

I do like a good rummage through the sales. It's hilarious seeing what shops are prepared to reduce things to, and gives you a good idea of the horrendous mark-up that's going on. As an inveterate TKMaxx shopper (friends, family, everyone...that's where all your Christmas presents came from) I hate paying full price for things any more, so it's a chance to stash away a few things for birthdays later in the year.

I pottered round Newcastle on Saturday morning, but didn't find anything appealing. Even at £10, most things were still awful - tops that looked like sacks, trousers at half mast. But then I remembered the M&S Penny Bazaar in the Grainger Market. It's a rummage and a half, that one - lots of boxes of assorted undies, clothes flung on rails in size (ish) order, and some lovely ladies run off their feet behind the counter. I came out with an Autograph cami (£1), and a beautiful lime green shot silk Autograph shirt (£3), that will look great with a belt.

The Grainger Market's an interesting one - there's things you'd expect like fruit and veg stalls, endless butchers etc and then an original Weigh House (does what it says on the tin - you go in, pay your fee, stand on the scales, and find out how much you weigh) and zany stuff like a Dr Martens shop. Stephen McClarence for The Times quite likes it as well (and you're right, Stephen - we should have won the Capital of Culture bid. How Liverpool managed to do it is beyond me.)