Buying a stroller

This weekend was a very trying time. My wife and I needed to check out some items that we have to purchase. Cots, prams, car seats ... the list is endless. Now, we had done some research on the web (wonderful thing this Internet); and thought we had the perfect item. The Peg Aria Twin looked to be perfect, Claudia even liked the colours. So we trundled off to the new Peg shop near us, full of hope and, despite the potential black hole developing near my pocket, desire.

The shop was not a disappointment. In fact it was beautiful - the pram was right in our eye line as we walked in too. And it looked pretty good. We wandered around with it for a bit, up and down the aisles, testing the turning circle - as you do ...

Then - the ultimate test. Does it fold down small enough? After some in ital difficulty starting the fold, it all seemed ridiculously easy. One fold, one extra click .... hhhhmmmmm. Still a rather large, bulky rectangle shape. Oh, well - maybe I wasn't doing it right. After we found a shop attendant who was willing to help us - an almost impossible task considering we actually want to spend money - I discovered I wasn't doing anything wrong - that is indeed the extent of the fold. Damn. Maybe it'll fit ... So off we went to the car to check it out. Alas! Not in the wildest drug induced imaginings of L Ron Hubbard ...

So now we are in a dilemma. This was the best bet of twin prams sold in South Africa. There are literally no makes that fold smaller than the Peg. The only make we could find online was Combi - a states company that, as is depressingly normal, doesn't sell in South Africa. Now, how - pray tell - do I get this in the country? Grey importing may be a problem for the authorities; but it seems to be my ONLY resource. Unless I find someone who's travelling back from the States or some other first world country in the next few months.

After that, and a wee bit of an emotional cry, the rest of the weekend passed pretty well. Well that is until I managed to lock both of us out of the house. All because we had to test the dimensions of the Combi in the middle of the night. Okay, 8 pm, but still ... fortunately, we managed to break open the garage and retrieve the house keys. My hand is still aching, but it is better than spending the night outside.