Amazulu

I thought 3hrs to get out of a car park in Sydney would be bad:
Christmas shoppers report three hour wait to exit Castle Towers car park

but

6hrs at Bluewater!:
Christmas shoppers endure six hour wait to get out of Bluewater Shopping Centre - Telegraph

F**k that

I couldn't think of anything worse than shopping at Bluewater at this time of the year (well maybe the Trafford Centre - made the mistake of going there on a Saturday morning this June!)

Beoz

I go at 9pm Christmas eve. Last year I had David Jones to myself.

Amazulu

Amazon/EBay/Book Depository/Abe Books/New Egg/B&H etc are now my present buying friends!

Kim67

I braved the local shopping centre this morning and managed to get a carpark, last of the small gifts for the kids, 3 kilo's of green tiger prawns (thought I might have left my run too late), ham, chicken veges, salad, snacks etc. Apart from a quick trip to the bottle shop and butcher across the road first thing in the morning, we are done. Even my presents are nearly all wrapped thanks to my kids. It's my youngest's last performance in at QPAC for The Nutcracker tonight and then we're kicking back with wine, food, Christmas lights and Christmas songs for the next week.

BEVS

The last time I was in the UK was 2009 to care for my Dad during his last few weeks.

During this I needed to get in some assorted shopping so went to the Castlepoint shopping centre in Bournemouth. 30 minutes of driving around looking for a place to park saw my rage-ometer going off the scale and I exited that place with more than one harumpf ( expletives )

Here in NZ. it is instant park and instant exit although you do have to mind the horrendous blind unaware driving.

Actually can't imagine having to crawl for a park or an exit nor having to pay for that matter.

OzTennis

Similar experience had by friends. GB were playing a Davis Cup tie a few years ago at the Braehead Arena (at Braehead Shopping Centre) in Glasgow. The Murray brothers were playing and the car park was full of shoppers and spectators. After play on Saturday everyone tried to leave the car park at the same time and it was all fair in love and war to get out of the car park. Our friends were waiting near the exit and saw friends of their's who gave way and let them out. They were 60 miles down the road, past Moffat when they got a text - we're still in the same place in the car park!!!

mikelincs

With two parking levels at Castlepoint I've never seen it anywhere near full, you must have gone on a very busy day.

astera

Has that place expanded in recent years? When I lived there I don't recall the place being so big - I do remember Sainsbury's being the only reason I swung by (ASDA was certainly not there then).

P.S. Good Harvester restaurant close-by at the intersection of the main road leading into Bournemouth - back then they didn't have any by the seaside.

Daisytreadlight

I live near Bluewater and 6hr to leave the car park is totally exaggerated. Don't believe everything you read in the papers to be honest the shops have been less busy than other years and it took me 25 min to leave Bluewater about 3 weeks ago but that was because the Dartford tunnel had problems.

mikelincs

Yes, it's huge now, big ASDA and Sainsbury, big B&Q and M&S plus loads of shoe and clothes shops, also close by are a big Homebase and just outside is Lakeland, some banks and cafes.

BEVS

It was Jan or Feb 2009. A snow on the ground year.

TBH a lot of the lower level seemed to be shut due to structural issues. It was dripping down in the one part.

My point really was that I'm just not used to the busybusy anymore so even a mere 30 mins seemed madness. Let alone hours.

I stayed a couple of nights at the Harvester astera , after m'Dad passed away. Blimmin' first rate carvery .

carolinephillips

Last time I drove to do a Christmas shop in the Uk was when my daughter was at a swimming meet. It took so long to get out of the car park that she had to be looked after by the swim coach- I was rammed by an overweight tattoed bitch in a battered car, forcing her way out when there wasn't room, who then threatened me if I dared to get her number or call the police. She couldn't drive off luckily, so I did just that, though I feared for my safety.
Guess what? It was a private car park, so they couldn't do anything, and the bitch wasn't insured.

Beoz

There's currently a 2 hour long wait to see Santa Claus in Westfield Bondi Junction.

BEVS

I wouldn't do that to a kid. Why would anyone do that?


Nostalgia.

When I was young and also a youngster and a young adult , children meeting with Santa did not happen in shopping centres at all. Heck . What were shopping centres.

They happened at Christmas parties at the British Legion Club . They happened at communal parties with extended family and friends. They happened at family friendly works do's . In our case at a hotel where my Dad worked.

renth

It took me 20 minutes to get out of the Dan Murphy's car park this afternoon. That was pretty stressful but I got some nice beer so it's all good.

Merry christmas everyone!