All alone..

Because Jo has flown out of Melbourne to visit her family in New Zealand today and was busy all weekend, it has fallen to me to recount her EPIC journey to procure her Mimco bag.

On Wednesday of last week, myself and Jo met up after I had finished uni, and she had finished work for us to have a looksee at the Mimco bag. Jo had gone the day before as she recounted, but of course she needed my opinion first (lol). Strolling into David Jones, it immediately became apparent that DJ was having a random 30% off almost everything sale. Obstensibly I think, to entice people to begin spending for the spring season. In the Saba concession area of DJ we discovered a beautiful classic beige trench jacket (for Jo) and a black silk/cotton cardigan (for me). Alas, both of us being completely broke meant that we did not buy them but it was fun trying them on nonetheless. So leaving Saba, we headed up another level to where the Mimco concession area was. And lo and behold they were also having a 30% off sale of their bags. Jo's bag was down from $450 to $269. That's a discount of 40% off the RRP.

Hardly believing our eyes, Jo spent the best part of an hour agonising over how to purchase the bag. I should clarify that Jo does in fact work part time, so does have income consistently coming in, but her parents had taken all her savings and put it in a term deposit. This was compounded by the fact that Jo hadn't gotten paid that week due to her manager failing to put in her hours. So she really didn't have any money except about a $100 she needed for necessities like metcards, petrol and food. She asked if she could hold the bag for a day - no dice, no holds on sale items. Then she asked if any other DJ had the bag - the sales assistant wandered off and came back saying that the Bourke St DJ had the only black one left. (The other colour is called "elephant"..and is a horrible khaki muddy colour.) Getting desperate, she called a couple of her friends to see if they had a) $270 to lend her, and b) in the city. Unsurprisingly, neither were, and so reluctantly we left David Jones.

So the story would have ended, if Jo had not, on a whim, decided to go to the Glen Waverley David Jones on her way home the next day. Her friend Mark had said that if she really liked the bag he could lend her the money, and since they both practically live in the Glen (the shopping mall in Glen Waverley) they met up and had a quick look to see if their Mimco section had the bag. It did. Calling me, she excitedly related that they had the bag, that the sales assistant had lied when she said they had the only black one (grrr), and that it was $269 as I remembered and not $296 as she had remembered. No hesitation. This was fate. And it is truly beautiful, and all the sweeter it is having it considering all she went through to get it.

And so journeying from one side of the city to the other, braving lying sales assistants and agonising money woes, Jo has emerged triumphant. And let me just say, it is damn fine looking when I saw it the next day. Especially after bashing it around a bit. Buffalo leather is very stiff.

An amusing exchange when we met up on Friday:

S: You do know that that's the third black bag you have bought this year.
J: ... ye-eeees. But hey, come on, how many pairs of shoes have you bought this year?
S: One!
J: Winklepickers Sisi.
S: Fine, five.

- S