Bananas!

…or more specifically, going slightly bananas!

So this is a bit of an update/review post on the continued saga of “those topshop trousers” which have been mentioned once or twice over my last couple of posts:

But more on that later.

First, I fancy sharing my views on Bananas.

As in the fruit…

… the one you eat?

Or don’t in my case.

It’s a bit random, but I just want to get it off my chest.

I can.Not stand bananas.

There.

I said it.

As a child, I loved them… though I was very specific about what kind of “look” the banana should have before I agreed to eat one:

The bananas in this photo are edging towards being a little too yellow for my tastes.

I liked my bananas to have a slightly ‘greenish’ seam.

The actual banana should be firm, and sweet – not bruised and not mushy.

However, by the time I reached my teens, I was banana’d out and rarely ate them.

Until I was pregnant.

Both my babies sat high whilst in the womb, which meant I could eat very little without feeling like the contents of my stomach were in my throat.

Awful.

This inevitably meant that during mid/late pregnancy I would wake up in the middle of the night (always at 2am), STARVING.

So there was nothing else for it… I put mind over matter and got all tennis-pro about the benefits “slow-releasing energy” of the old banana and would have not just a glass of water on my bedside table, but a ‘bedside-banana’ as well.

I resented every bite.

And I grew to despise bananas.

In fact, after the babies were born, the only time we ever really had bananas in the fruit bowl here in our Threads household was when I was weaning the babies onto solids.

No one in my little family is a mad, crazy banana loving monkey type. (Thank goodness).

But yesterday, whilst in the supermarket, I reluctantly bought a bag of small, fair-trade bananas.

Mainly as a healthy snack alternative for the boys who have been snacking on salty-crispy-sugary-biscuity-crap recently.

However, on unpacking these little ‘finger’ bananas at home, I had the overwhelming urge to eat one.

I know!

Anyway, I did just that.

I ate a banana.

First time in 4, maybe 5 years.

And… it was actually, OK.

Which is progress, right?

I feel I should be incorporating bananas in my diet.

I still couldn’t eat a very yellow banana.

And NEVER drink smoothies unless they are banana-free.

But yeah.. just felt like sharing my banana story.

Moving on to what’s driving me bananas (ha! see what I did there?!)…  my size 6 Topshop Petite Rivet Peg Trousers: which are too big!

I have rarely been anything other than a size 6 in Topshop.

The only time I’m a size 4 is if I am buying from the Topshop Boutique range which always have items with a more generous cut.

And way back (in my skinnier, pre-kid days,) I would occasionally – actually, for real… be a size 8 (whoop! go me!)

So, these trousers… should look something like this:

Things to note from this pic:

• the crotch of the trousers is not half way down the model’s thighs / near her knees
• the length – even though I admit I am an extra-petite-shorty, the reviews online from another fellow 5-footer suggested that these trousers were a good cropped ankle grazing length on her.

As you will recall, I have been to great lengths to get my mitts on these trousers.  For anyone who missed it, in a nutshell:

• these trousers were sold out online in most sizes
• I called TS customer services who told me that there was no ‘restock’ scheduled for the trousers
• no store transfer could be organised by central customer services, so I had to call individual stores
• 4 individual TS shops called, an hour later, a transfer was agreed – but could take unto 6 weeks!
• the following week my husband was in London and after chipping away at him for days, he agreed to enter the abyss of Topshop Oxford Circus for me.
• SUCCESS!  I have my trousers!

After *all* of that drama… nothing could have prepared me for this:

Bearing in mind these are meant to be high waisted trousers, this is how they actually sit on me:

And if I hold them up, pinching the excess fabric at the back:

Now I wouldn’t style these trousers up like this, but I wore a fitted body to show how ill-fitting the trousers are on me:

Just to be clear… this is not a “oh look at me! I can’t help being so tiny and small and slim!” post.

It is very much a p*ssed off with shop sizing rant.

It is hard enough to find clothing small enough for me – I cannot accept that I have shrunk.

I may be small, but I still have my mum-tum.

It’s all relative, right?

And after all that drama of tracking a pair down –  wouldn’t you know it?  The trousers are now back in stock online  – in ALL sizes!!

So… as grateful as I am to my husband for making such a big effort to actually enter Topshop Oxford Circus – what he described as a ‘hellishly noisy small city’, these trousers are going back.

Oh!  And before I forget… the trousers are made from a lovely non-creasing light-weight crepe which is super comfortable to wear.

Just one step off PJ’s / Joggers really.

But no pockets… which on a pair of trousers of this style is a bit of a deal breaker for me.

Anyway… by chance, I will be in London this Saturday, so I might try the size 4 on… but you know what?

After all this drama of acquiring the trousers, I may well have kept them, even if sans pockets.

However, that my normal size 6 is so big, I think even if I did get a size which did fit, I’d struggle to get the ridiculous image of the circus-clown-fit of the first pair out of my head: I’m over them.

If you made it to the end of this moany-random blog post: thank you for listening.  Reading.  You know what I mean!

How about you?  Has anything similar happened to you and driven you bananas?  Would love to hear your stories of anything you’ve gone hell for leather to track down but then turned out to be a disaster?  Tell me I’m not the only one?!

Back on Sunday 7 –  a feeling skint, cheap and cheerful pick-me-up special.

Bx