I Hate Shopping

A stream of consciousness writing experiment

Author enjoying a pleasant evening of shopping at CB2 — photo by author

Almost 3 years ago, at the height of Covid restrictions in Toronto, my wife and I decided to buy a condo in Miami. South Beach to be specific.

We then decided to renovate it. The first contractor ghosted us 3 months in, fortunately no money had changed hands.

The second contractor took a year and a half to get permits that should have taken 2 months, but another building in Miami Beach had the bad manners to fall down spectacularly as we began the process and the city tightened up on all new permits.

Then once the permits finally came in, this contractor decided to double the price from what we had agreed on. We called his bluff and dropped him.

Enter contractor number three. We had the permits, we had all the material and designs. The project was supposed to take three months. Here we are six months later, scrambling to get the unit complete for a visit with friends later in the month.

Part of the scramble involves shopping. A lot of shopping. Accents. Fancy drink glasses. Knick knacks. Art. Kill me now.

I’m forever grateful to have a wife who has some taste and actually enjoys doing this stuff. I think she appreciates me reconciling our bank account every month in a similar manner. Easy…