What is one of the most expensive things that youve ever bought?

Aside from the obvious, like house…. or car…..there were a couple of purchases that I made many years ago that filled me with a kind of fear and pleasure mixed. When I first came to Canada my pay cheques were way more than I had been earning in the UK at the time. It was a very unusual feeling to actually have ‘enough’ money and also to have some discretionary spending money. I had seen a watch that I thought was lovely in the window of a jewellers called Potters which was in the lobby of the old Georgia Hotel at Burrard and Georgia.

At the time friends sometimes met in the bar of the Hotel which did exotic Hawaiian cocktails, and it may been after one of these evenings that I made up my mind. I don’t even remember now how much it did cost, but do I remember the feeling of being completely irresponsible at my extravagance and in purchasing something just because I wanted it and could afford it….. how un Presbyterian! … purely for the pleasure of ownership. I should wear it more often, I still like it.

It has a gold strap and a jade face and to my mind quite a classic look. The other purchase was when I was shopping for a wedding outfit…. for me. Newly returned from Canada I met a couple of old friends in London and we shopped up and down Regent Street, but I could not find anything that seemed quite right. So, being of sound mind, we retired to a little Italian restaurant for lunch, and some time, and probably a glass or two of red later ( I’m detecting a theme here), we headed out onto Bond Street.

First off, in Fenwicks’ I found what I thought was a perfect off white linen ‘coat dress’ they were very fashionable ( and very short!) in 1970, and now on a roll we headed off down Bond Street. Kurt Geiger’s was, and still is, a highly expensive fashion destination for shoes. We went in and I tried on a pair of white patent shoes with gold heels which felt amazing and like slippers to wear and I fell immediately in love. Twelve guinees later we waltzed out with my Kurt Geiger bag in hand and wallet lighter for an amount that would have been a week’s pay cheque for a physio in Britain at that time!

How I loved those shoes, had them for years and they didn’t really date. All that was left to find was a hat, so we about turned and headed for Peter Jones at Oxford Circus. Trying on hats is always fun and it didn’t take long to settle on a wide brimmed sunshine’ y yellow hat which I had trimmed with daisies on our wedding day. Mission accomplished!

I still can’t believe I spent more ( much more!) on my shoes for my wedding than I did on the rest of the outfit.