I have not given Chrismas a single thought until I received your email and my 1st thoughts are that of dread!! I really can not afford it this year and the thought of trying to think of different ideas for people within a limited budget is not something I relish. I don't usually start thinking about Christmas until about October. We have many Birthdays to get through in September first. It is unlikely I will do any shopping online,I havn't in the past. I would normally just pick up odd iems as I see them from October onwards ,rather than go out specifically 'Chrismas shopping'. The only items I may compare prices online are dvd's, books and cd's against Asda who are usually very competative. As I have not thought about christmas yet I have not given any thought to what big presents I might buy. Probably none, looking a my current bank balance. The only store I know I shall be rushing to and looking forward to shopping for presents in is the soon to be opened John Lewis. I would like to see Asda for Christmas stock more fashionable accessories, as in belts, handbags, shoes and jewelery ,at reasonable prices of course!!

Last Friday my 14 and 15 year old daughters and myself went into Leiceser in search of school uniforms and shoes for the forthcoming school year. (Where did the summer go to!!) Their priority is fashion and style, mine is price and adhereing to school regulations. We all agree fit is important but durability and comfort do not come into the equation at their age. We generally will shop for completely new uniforms at the begining of a school year and then odd items during the year as and when they need replacing. We had already bought directly from the school at the end of last term a school logo polo shirt each at the ready. Their uniform is fairly flexible in that it must be plain black trousers/skirt, black cardigan/jumper and white collared t-shirt/ blouse. There can be no logos. We found alot of the fashion items did sport logos, and I was not going to bend the rules on this. (Lots of moaning about what other peoples mothers allow!!) We found that the large stores offering uniforms like Asda, BHS and Marks & Spencers etc. are very much geared towards younger children in their styles. (I would have bought from here when they were younger and didn't have such a strong opinion on fashion for school.) So we ventured into high street fashion stores. Here we found cardigans and jumpers abound at around £15-£25. Trousers were harder as they wanted jeans 'style' ones but the school does not allow jeans. This I think is a fine line as to what constitutes jeans. Is it the fabric or the style? As for white tops, we were looking for a plain collared t-shirt but all had a stripe on the collar or around the sleeve or a logo. The polo shirts offered as 'uniform' are very 'T' in shape and we wanted something more fitted like a a girls Fred Perry. We eventually bought a pair each of jeans style but stretch cotton trousers from H & M for £15 each and a pair each of bootleg viscose smarter black trousers from an independant store-Blue Star- for £13 each. We have bought these before and they do not last more than about a term but is my safety net in case the school do not approve of the first. We also bought a jumper & cardigan each from Primark for only £6 per item. As always by far the cheapest for the same quality and had a vast selection of styles. As for white shirts, we still need to find , but they can get by for now with ones they wore last year, as well as the school issue, until we come across new ones we like. Shoes, we bought a pair of black leather pumps each from Faith and a pair of fake 'Keds' each from River Island. I have not been aware of any specific advertising for school uniforms so can not comment on this. My only suggestion for future stock I would like to see in Asda would be a teenage school range incorporating current trends.

I am back from my lovely holiday to Cyprus and have to admit I did not need to have rushed around buying last minute clothes to take! I did not wear half the daytime items I bought, and the same for the children. We could have just taken our new bikinis and a couple of wraps. When will I learn!! In relation to your email of last month I very rarely buy clothes for my husband with the exception of maybe work shirts and underwear or a clothing gift at Birhdays and Christmas as he has strong views as to what he likes and dislikes and enjoys chosing his own clothes. Unlike myself who is prepared to buy cheaper clothing in todays credit crunch, he will not compromise and will only wear good brands he feels comfortable in like Paul Smith or John Smedley. He would rather have fewer good items than more cheaper ones. I think it is easier for men as the styles do not vary so much for them. If you own a good pair of jeans, fine knit jumper and collared shirt or T-shirt you can always look good. But for woman, width of trousers, length of skirt, height of shoes is ever changing and what you bought today can be old hat tomorrow. I did watch the television program in relation to Primark and child labour. I actually felt sorry for Primark to be singled out for this program as I feel that I am sure that many high street shops where the clothes are made in India would have the same problems. Unfortunately different cultures have different ethics. Whilst I strongly disagree with the use of child labour and low pay, this is their only income and without it they would starve or be forced into far worse such as prostitution. I would like to think that Primark would now be more dilligent about continued vetting of the companies they deal with in India to ensure good workforce standards are maintained and work is not subbed out to child labour having been exposed in this way. That said, unless we boycott all third world country produce we can never be sure of its journey and the only people who will suffer are the very poor. So to sum up, whilst disturbed by the program, I will continue to buy cheap clothing made in a third world country including from Primark and ethical responsibility lies with the companies providing the goods. Is this burying my head? I hope not.