It’s Cyber Monday – and with each reminder email that piles into the collective tip that has become my inbox, I feel a pang of frustration, a flare of anger. Why, you may ask. Am I a Scrooge, disliking anything that reminds me of the cash I am encouraged to part with in name of the festive season? Am I, like many, finding the holidays over-commercialised and full of consumerism?

Just the opposite, actually! I love Christmas and for me it is an excuse to spoil those closest to me, and to find that one thing that brings a look of pure joy to their faces. It’s an excuse to shop! And herein lies the problem and the reason why I refuse to take part in today’s shopping frenzy (no matter how much I might save on the perfume mum has come to expect each year).

So what has brought on this child-like obstinance and my outright refusal to part with my cash today?

It is the flat-out failings of some retailers to get the very basics right. It is the attitude of the kid on the other end of the “customer service” line who is as useful as a wet paper bag. Ultimately, it is the frustration I feel at not being able to give my daughter the one toy she so desperately wants from Santa more than any other.

And it’s not because it doesn’t exist. It does. On Amazon for double the price, on Ebay for triple, at Smyth’s occasionally (but they will not ship this one particular toy even when they do have it) and at Argos apparently, but it is never in stock.

So imagine my excitement when waking early on Saturday to check, in one last desperate attempt, and then I actually found Lucy the Dog in stock at Argos! My heart raced as I put it in my trolley and prepared to check-out. I couldn’t believe I had finally found it!

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