Boxing Day

Will wonders never cease?! James and I actually braved the traffic along Merivale this afternoon to stop in at Best Buy, Linens ’n’ Things, EB Games, Independent Grocer, and Zellers. We weren’t on a quest for anything in particular, and it’s not like there was money burning a hole in our pockets, but we thought of it as our great BOXING DAY SALE ADVENTURE (that’s right, in caps like that). Best Buy, our first destination, was the craziest place. Back when I was still quite young, I thought that Boxing Day was so named in honor of prize fighters: I imagined them squaring off in the ring every Dec 26 for the World Heavyweight title, delivering flying dropkicks, piledrivers, and Indian deathlocks. (I was better acquainted with AWA wrestling than with boxing.) Actually, I was not so far off. Nobody in Best Buy was throwing punches, true, but it certainly smelled like a gym. It’s hard to say if the sweatiness cloying the air came from the anxious, deal-hound customers who had hiked in from the far reaches of the parking lot, or from the exhausted employees who had been at their stations since at least 6am for Boxing Day Blowout madness. It wasn’t a complete loss: we had to walk around the block for parking, so we exercised off some of the Christmas goodies we’ve indulged in, and I did acquire a lovely artificial burgundy poinsettia for $3 from LNT, a tea ball (for making soup) from Zellers, and some groceries. The best part is that I’m still at home until Jan 7. Woohoo!