Fragment #6 - Glasgow loves shopping

I am walking down Buchanan Street with Claire. It's Saturday, she is not working this afternoon, so let's stick to Glasgow's new slogan: « Glasgow loves shopping ». We decide we've got to visit Primark first. The place where all girls and women go, where you can find almost everything for nothing, clothes especially. Heaven for girls like us. Inside, two floors of clothes. We start with the first one. Tops and skirts, some ridiculously short dresses, sparkles and flashy fabrics... You can find and you can wear whatever you want in the UK. What about the weather? No one cares. Shopping is starting. Payday was already two weeks ago for me so it's not going to be too bad but Claire already got a half full basket. She is showing me, smiling, a pretty black miniskirt. I’ve got a pink sweater, it could be fine for nights chilling at home... Well, home, I still have to get one. I should think about it, I've got a decent job I should start thinking about living on my own. Get settled somewhere.
We go upstairs and start choosing new accessories, to match our new clothes... This seems pretty unreal, and it's so exciting, after a week at work just to let it go, spend money on new clothes, especially if they are nice and cheap. These are our lives. I would have found this meaningless, when I was just twenty and wanted to achieve something big. This is what I have never realized in France: the biggest thing one has to achieve is to be happy. And life is meaningless anyway. "Amy you have to try this on". Claire is showing me a strapless white top and I don't think this is really me...
We go back to the cashier and then we visit all our favorite shops, Boots, Topshop, Warehouse, Zara, Moonsoon... From Argyll Street we go back to Buchanan Street: a long and large pedestrian street, part of the "Golden Z". When I asked for places to visit in Glasgow, that's what Claire told me: go to the Golden Z. Argyll Street, Buchanan Street, Sauchiehall Street. There are all the shops and the bars: the perfect consumer society. And it's working damn well, considering how busy the City Center is everyday. Shops are always crowded there. People seem quite happy and it feels good, though artificial. Soon there will be the Christmas market on St Enoch's place, at the bottom of Buchanan Street. They’ve already put on the lights everywhere. Night falls at 5 now, so it's warming up the atmosphere. We pass by Buchanan Street's Starbucks... I'm feeling nervous. We go on till the Buchanan Galleries, at the top of the street. Claire has noticed my anxiety, but she is chatting about anything but my meeting with Steven. We still have one hour of shopping to go, and I won't let a man spoil it.