Six go mad in Bicester

A little while back Ewan told me he and a few of his mates wanted to visit Bicester Outlet Village (once he had his birthday money) and would I drive them there? How little does he know me? Shopping centres give me the hives, and the notion of a two-hour drive (each way) with a carful of cussing and farting 16-year-old boys is perhaps not top of the list of how I want to spend my day.

A few days after this convo, I was at a charity bash for the National Aids Trust. I bought two raffle tickets (£25 each – gasp) and one of them was drawn. My prize was, unbelievably, a VIP day out for six people to Bicester Village. Nooooo! Well, it seemed to be written in the stars – I was gonna have to go.

Fact was, Ewan was so chuffed that I got kind of caught up in his and his pals’ excitement. Yesterday was the Big Day. We set off at 0745 to catch the complimentary coach from Victoria and got to Bicester about three hours later.

On our way

The lovely PR Amy welcomed us into her very posh VIP room (much excitement from the boys…Claude said he felt as if he was in an MTV show), where we were treated to coffee and croissants and given our 10 per cent discount cards, £100 gift card (I took care of that one), and told that we were booked in for a complimentary lunch at Busaba Eathai.

Off they all scattered in the direction of Lacoste, Fred Perry and the like. I wandered into The White Company (irresistible, isn’t it?) and decided there and then to replace my ratty 10-year-old off-white bath towels (I mean, £7 a pop…can’t not). Gift card gone in a flash. My bargain of the day was a Prada skirt (original price £545!, down to £50). Loving it.

L to r: Josh, Fabian and Claude get stuck in to their freebie feast

The boys over-ordered at lunchtime to an embarrassing degree, but everything was eaten so I didn’t feel toooo guilty.

The five of them occupied the back seats of the coach on the return journey, and they all fell quickly to sleep, bless them, the babes that they are still.

 

The sleeping beauties