Ah, Christmas Shopping...

Where only the insanely brave and the foolhardy dare to tread: A Mall.
We drove around one today. Literally. All the way around. Then down side streets. And around again. Parks were, well, full. So we abandond the idea of getting all our present shopping done today, and started to head off to the supermarket (we needed some milk, cereal, cat food and light bulbs - we eventually got everything except the light bulbs, oops)
Just for a laugh we thought we'd see what town was like. Not only was it not as busy, it was pleasant! Shops weren't bursting at the seams with people, shop staff weren't run off their feet and so weary our shopping was a nuisance to them. It was a lovely reminder of what shopping can be like, outside of the silly season.
In contrast to our other recent present-shopping-trips we actually spent more on other people than we did ourselves. Or at least, more on acual presents than stuff for us immediately. We got Tanya's present, and it drags the average back toward us :)

So the moral of the story, at least as far as Christchurch goes:
City Mall - Good
Riccarton Mall - Bad
(Sorry, that's Westfield Shopping Town to all the newer generation)