Only yesterday I spent hours agonising over buying a new fleece top online. Clothing is always difficult when you can't see it and feel it.
200gsm or 300gsm? I studied the fleece buying guides. I wanted something a little bit extra warm and decided on 300 although they made it sound like I might be too warm in it.
Choosing from the large number available was made harder by many sellers not stating the garment's gsm, so I had to do a lot of cross-referring between manufacturers' sites and sellers' sites.
By now I was having to make a list of what I had looked at before I got confused.
Then there was the question of size, where I found variance in the sellers' charts, I'm usually L but some suggested M would be more my size. Uneasy after observing that most sellers expect you to pay postage on returns, I stuck to L.
And what colour? I wanted it to be different from my last two purchases, and it had to go with everything else I would wear with it.
Having settled on what I wanted I then had to find it for the best total price, because most offered no choice but express delivery at an arm-and-a-leg price.
After all that, my first choice was out of stock of what I wanted, but I persevered and placed a suitable order.
Now will come days of anxiety, will it be the right thickness, will it fit me, will it come at all?
What a way to spend a Saturday morning! Better, though, than travelling in traffic to a crowded shopping centre (in pre-Covid times) and not finding what you want, or paying a lot more for it as Pleb did with his electric kettle.
Incidentally, I ordered from outdoorclothing.co.uk who on closer inspection turn out to be Gaynor Sports.
UPDATE: Just had an email saying it's been dispatched! Taking that into consideration along with them selling the item for 57% of the RRP when some were charging the full price, I'm very impressed so far.