By far one of the best investments we have made in child equipment has been the Phil & Ted’s 3-wheel pram. It’s a popular model in the toddler-owning fraternity and I see more and more of them when I’m out and about. Always there’s a shared smile and a nod of the head that says “Hello fellow trendy parent, aren’t we glad we’re not bugaboo owners.” It also gets a fair amount of attention from people wanting to know where I got it and do I like it, so I wasn’t surprised when I was approached in Dundrum Shopping Centre on Sunday afternoon.
She was wearing a full-length fur coat and looked far too manicured to be a parent but nevertheless she swooped over to me:
“Oooh, we’ve been looking for a pram like that! Do you like it?”
“Yes, it’s great, we love it.”
“Wherever did you find it? We’ve looked everywhere.”
“I got it off the inter….”
I hadn’t even got the word out when the smile died on her lips, she rolled her eyes, clicked her tongue and turned her back on me. Ever eager to have complete strangers approve of me I called after her,
“I’ve seen them in Roches Stores in Blackrock as well.”
She was no longer interested though and gave me an unconvincing smile over her shoulder before sweeping away. Had she given me the chance I would have asked her why she reacted that way to my mention of the internet. She didn’t strike me as the type to not have a credit card…perhaps she doesn’t have access since so many people in Ireland still don’t even have dial-up.
I couldn’t help wondering if it was something more like fear; to the average Irish person who doesn’t spend as much time online as we bloggers and blog-readers, I can imagine the internet would seem a scary place. The media likes to publish stories about the dark side of online life, the sensational accounts of pornography, child groomers and identity fraud. I suppose those are the ones that sell newspapers and boost ratings.
If she would have stayed around I could have told her I had been able to read reviews and compare prices at my leisure, all from the comfort of my home. In the end the pram cost me over €100 less online than any shop I checked with here in Ireland. Even when I rang those Irish shops hoping to give them my business and told them I would definitely buy from them if they would match the price they refused with no negotiation. Not even an offer of a discount. So, instead I bought from a shop in the UK who delivered to my door within two days, no fuss. I believe we have in the internet a wonderful weapon against so-called “Rip-Off Ireland” and it’s not being used to it’s full potential, either by retailers or by customers.
Why are we as a nation so slow to embrace it?
