I HAVE suddenly realised how easy it is to fall into the trap of online shopping. I sometimes do it with clothes but only last week I did it with Christmas presents.
My daughter brought me battery-operated candles - brilliant, had everyone fooled. And they are safe.
Something like E 23 for a set of two in Tesco in Kildare yet couldn't find another set anywhere in the north. Then thought - try eBay.
Hitherto I understood this was only for individuals to buy and sell, but no, you can buy just about any commercial product, including the candles I so much wanted, at £19.99.
Easy - just open the page on your computer, click on the candles, give your name and address and your debit or credit card details. Off it whizzes before you can say 'Cor, strike a light'.
Within four days I had my candles. Great Christmas presents, I thought, so back into the computer, ordered up two more boxes and, like that, they arrived on the doorstep.
Highly impressed, I thought I'd look for a garden hose. Ours had sprung a leak because I drove over it so I was beholden to find a replacement. Sure enough, there was the lightweight non-kink expanding hose I'd been recommended for £18.89.
I was on a roll.
We needed a new electric fire. Tried the stockists without success, looked at specific companies online where the fire that appealed was £263.90 delivered. Go to Amazon, same fire - £235, delivered.
How can retailers manage with competition like this?
Last week there was a special day to support small shops and businesses. I did so because I love the chat and the banter but I now appreciate the lure - and the danger of overspending on internet shopping.
Is it really Marilyn?
Anne, Can you tell me if the TV perfume ad is really Marilyn Monroe talking? Jill.
Yes, it is. When Coco Chanel created Chanel No5 she wanted a really female fragrance and as Monroe loved the perfume, the two benefited from the publicity when Monroe was asked what she wore in bed and she replied: "I only wear Chanel No5."
The film and the radio interview tape were found in the company archives and now, 72 years later they make fascinating viewing.
Not fair
The whole excitement of Christmas presents is opening the wrapping paper to discover what someone has bought you. Have they researched your taste? Did they remember something you said last June? Did they know how to please you with a real surprise? So I sympathise with Pat.
Dear Anne, Am I being unreasonable? My husband asked me what I'd like for Christmas and I told him, a particular camera to take some photos of the children as they grow up.
I even told him the make I'd like - and not too expensive. So I was OK when he said, yes that's fine but then he added: 'You get it and I'll give you the money."
It took all the excitement out of it. What will I do, just go and get it or stand my ground and ask him to get it and wrap it and put it under the tree with the other present? Happy Christmas anyway.
Pat.
No choice, Pat - stand your ground. He's a lazy so and so.
How would he like it if you told him to go and buy a pair of socks of his choice for you to give to him on Christmas morning?
Nothing to do with the law
Dear Anne, Could answer a question for me? Why is it that when I watch the advertisements on television now that there has to be either an African or an Asian appearing in them. Is this law now? I hope you don't mind me asking.
Jack I don't mind but I am surprised, Jack. Just look around you.
We are 'multi-cultural', that means we have a glorious mix of traditions; we're all shapes, sizes and colours. It would be very unrepresentative of life today if this wasn't reflected in advertisements and soap operas.
It was a sobering week of grief and celebration as Nelson Mandela was laid to rest. I only began to understand the man after he died and I heard of his works and the influence for good he had all over the world.
Isn't it so often the case in everyday life that you think you know someone, yet it is only afterwards you hear of their goodness or what they have achieved?
It's such a waste not to talk to your friends about their aspirations and to listen to their stories, rather than small talk about the weather and who's going to win Strictly.
Jack, Nelson Mandela summed it up when he said: "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities."
That goes for ethnic actors too. As with that other good man, Fr Alex Reid, may Nelson Mandela rest in peace.
Incidentally, at Clonard on the night before his funeral, I was interested to hear from a fellow priest that Fr Reid was in fact christened Alexander after his Protestant grandfather.
A hint of garlic
Hi Anne, I hate peeling and chopping garlic. I invested in a rubber tube from a kitchen shop and I was told to rub the clove of garlic in the tube and the outside covering would peel away.
Well, in my experience, it doesn't. Then, purely because I couldn't find a sharp knife in the drawer, I used a pair of scissors. I snipped off the top and tail of the clove and then trimmed the piece between and off came the whole papery covering.
I then cut the garlic in pieces and put into the stew. No knife, no hassle, just a pair of kitchen scissors. Happy cooking, Gail.