The perils of the internet

I have been very naughty.

I have always been aware of the wonders of Internet shopping but rare is the occasion when I allow myself to indulge.

Until now.

I was getting kind of tired of the same old Mango, Zara etc stuff that you find on your local Spanish high street so I thought I would have a gander at www.asos.com. This was my first big mistake. My gander soon turned into a couple of hundred euros worth of clothing winging its way to my office. I wanted it to arrive before my holiday so I could take it with me. And it did, the Friday I was due to leave.

My big plan was to take the clothes little by little home and sneak them into the suitcase. By Thursday they still hadn't arrived so I had to think of a new plan. As I would be leaving for the airport directly from work, I would just pop the stuff in my suitcase on Friday morning. Easy peasy. Easy, that is, until Loco decided that he would park his car near work and have his dad collect the car later, thereby avoiding the problem of taking big heavy suitcases on public transport. Damn damn damn.

My package arrived on Friday morning and it was like Christmas day, only that i knew what my presents were and I paid for them myself, but it was still a bit like Christmas day opening the box and pulling out top after top after jeans after jumper. Happy days.

But how was I to get all the stuff secretly into the suitcase? Thank god for fashion. I am talking about big handbags. I rationaled with myself and decided that the jeans and jumper probably wouldn't be necessary in Andalucia so they stayed behind locked up in my drawer.. and the rest? Flimsy fabrics folded up nice and small wrapped up in my scarf (yes scarf - the air con is v.v. cold in the office) and stuffed at the bottom of my handbag. Genius!

I thought I was home dry until we went through airport security. As I watched my bag get put through the x-ray machine for a second time my palms started to sweat at the thought of Loco finding out about my little shopping spree. I had packed a little case of jewellery and it was showing up strangely on the x-ray machine.

"Miss, could I ask you to open your bag"

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"There's something strange showing up along the left hand side"

"It's just my earrings " I said foraging for the jewellery case praying I wouldn't be asked to empty the contents of my bag

A closer inspection of the jewellery case by security and I was away without any further problems. Phew.

My next mission - to wear the clothes without Loco noticing they were new .

I shouldn't have worried, he didn't bat an eyelid as I tried on garment after garment, not even querying that he hadn't seen them before. Boys, sigh. Although I guess I should count my lucky stars.

have I learnt my lesson. No. I'm already browsing the new asos collection and as play.com packages arrive at my desk, I wonder - how will I get all these books home?