I Love China

Most kinds of promotions are not allowed to be combined with other offers.  I found this out the hard way a while ago at a Japanese restaurant chain.  They had an offer of 10 rmb off some fried tofu if you ordered a set lunch.  One of us also had a VIP discount card, so when we came to pay the bill, we presented our 10% off discount card to the waitress and she informed us we couldn’t use it because we had taken up the 10 rmb off tofu offer.  So basically, as the bill was over 300 rmb, we lost out on 30 rmb discount in order to take up the 10 rmb off tofu offer – it would have been cheaper to pay full price for the tofu and then get 10% off the entire meal with the VIP card!

No such silliness at M&S last week where they had an incredible series of promotions.  12% of wines if you buy 12 or more bottles, many BOGOF (buy one, get one free) offers on various products and on top of that, 30 rmb cash for every 150 rmb spent.  And when I say “on top of” I mean just that.  Because unlike that mean old Japanese chain, these offers could be combined together to devastating effect.  I’m not sure if someone at M&S misread the promotion conditions.  Even many customers couldn’t believe it.  Several people (includng myself) went up to the cash desk to check first:

WoAi : “If I buy one, get one free, do I still get the 30 rmb off for every 150 rmb?”.

M&S shop assistant : “Yes sir”.

WoAi : “If I get the 12% off wines, do I still get 30 rmb back for every 150 rmb I spend?”.

M&S shop assistant : “Yes sir”.

WoAi : “If I spend more than 1000 rmb will you give me your phone number?”.

M&S shop assistant : “Oh that won’t be necessary, you can have it for free, just make sure you don’t forget to call me!”

So basically, I got 113 rmb off my 12 bottles of wine, 129 rmb for a free tin of Belgian biscuits (buy one, one free) and 39 rmb off for a free sponge pudding (buy one, one free).  The total after these discounts came to 1050.80 rmb, which is only JUST 7 lots of 150 rmb, so I got and extra 210 rmb off, bring the total savings for the day to 490 rmb!  Sadly the promotion ended on Saturday, but I’ll keep you informed of any new promotions.

Hmmm yes, I am aware that this blog is in danger of becoming the M&S Shanghai blog, but as the Chinese like to say in these situations : mei you ban fa （没有办法）!

I only popped in to get another jar of coffee and some Jaffa Cakes (don’t know how I missed them on my last visit but Tinkerbell remarked that she had got some) but ended up getting all of this!

Needless to say, I am sipping a cup of M&S coffee and munching on some ginger snap cookies as I type this.  Delicious!

Sign in the window of Shanghai’s Marks & Spencer.  Yes, they’ve had a new delivery cleared by customs.  I picked up some baked beans (10 rmb for a big can), two frozen Bramley Apple pies (one of which I baked straight away), some freeze dried instant coffee, 160 tea bags, cranberry and orange cookies, and a few other bits and pieces.

Those of you outside China may not realise we’ve been on a 7 day break to celebrate the National Day Holiday. I actually took an extra day, so it’s been 8 solid days off for me. What did I do during these 8 days you may wonder. Well, the plan was to have no plans at all. To just wake up and do what the hell I feel like is a rare luxury for me, so that’s exactly what I planned to do for 8 days. I’ll confess, there were several days I did absolutely nothing and it was pure heaven. But I also got lots of minor chores done that can’t be done during a normal working week, and here’s a summary of things I’ve achieved this week:

1. Went to IKEA to buy some much needed bed linen. My existing bed linen is well overdue for the rubbish bin. Going to IKEA was as stressful as it is anywhere in the world, but the upside is I (and from time to time, a companion of my choice) get to roll around in brand new sheets and quilt covers.

2. I got a much needed haircut on the last day of the holiday. It’s not that I dislike long hair, but it just looks awful on me.

3. Visited the newly opened Marks and Spencer (THREE TIMES) mostly for food and wine, but also picked up a birthday card for my brother Rich so if you’re reading this, just pretend you haven’t read this part.

4. Repaired the heels on my Tods loafers. They’re only 5 months old but the heels have completely worn out already.

5. Bought some new shoes, more of which will be written on this week’s Fashion Friday.

6. Cut, or rather, trim, Tommy’s extremely long claws (he kept getting his paws stuck on the upholstery, which is bad for him and bad for my furniture.

It’s not been a total success though. There are a few things I still never got round to doing, including a day trip to one of the nearby ancient towns (Zhou Zhunag or Xi Tang for example), take some photographs, give Tommy a long overdue bath.

All in all though, it’s been a great week. Some people say if you didn’t have to work, you’d be bored. I have said it before and I’ll say it again – not me!

PS – I can’t think of a category for this post, so suggestions are welcome for a new category to be added. Something like “WoAi’s mundane ramblings” I reckon.