Collecting the Uniform

So from receipts to bags...to Uniform? 

As if this hobby couldn't get any stranger, at one stage I started collecting the uniform (will add in here that it was all new!).

At various stores we'd go in and speak to the store manager and after explaining about this interesting hobby, they'd go and see if they had any spare items lying around.  They were always more than happy to help in any way they could.  I remember visiting the store in Malton, the manager was so friendly - she even ended up offering me a job - unfortunately being miles away from home and only 15 at the time it wasn't very practical!  I wonder if the job offer still stands?  Anyone work at Malton Morrisons? 

I eventually ended up with shirts, ties, hats, lots of hats, my own name badge...I think I got a bit carried away.  

By now you're probably thinking, what use is a +Morrisons  uniform to someone who doesn't even work at the store?! 

Well, the caps were brilliant!  I'm afraid to say I did wear them out in public! I did have a picture but can't seem to find it at the moment.  However, the butchers hat never made it out (Thought that was taking it a bit far) I even used the shirts as 'night-wear' - the looks I got from the other boarders were priceless! 

Unfortunately, after having a clear out a few years ago, all I have now is a few hats and the name badge!  Anyone got any spare uniform?  Particularly fond of the green gilets and jackets... 

Carrier Bags for wallpaper...

Over the next 2 years I started getting a bit carried away with this 'hobby' of mine.  

I never really was a fan of the yellowish-creamy colour of the walls in my room at school, and no matter how many posters you put up there was always a gap - this needed sorting!  

Since the +Morrisons flag was permanently on my bed, I thought it was only right that the walls matched as well.  So I stuck up a carrier bag...

This then led to a lot more carrier bags being stuck up, A LOT more!  It even reached the stage where I'd run out of bags so friends would bring in bags to school and say "I went to Morrisons last night and picked you up a bag"!

This shows part of the wall and the ceiling...

One of the 'old' designs

I soon ran out of wall space and began sticking them to the ceiling.  My room mate thought I'd completely lost the plot and I think she was slightly worried.  

Unfortunately the 'ceiling paper' did not last long, as one evening when my house-parent came to say goodnight she said,

"Janine, I can cope with the bags being on the wall (just), but the ceiling?! What if one fell off in the night and you suffocated? I don't want to be responsible for that!"  

So, sadly I had to take them down, I still kept the ones up on the wall though!

Can this get any stranger...?

Morrison's flag!

This is probably one of my treasured possessions, it's sad to say! 

In December 2007, my dad wrote to Mr Morrison asking for one of the flags which are used at their stores as a present for me for Christmas!  

The Reply from Mr Morrison!

By now you're probably thinking - What use is a Morrison's flag to a 15 year old girl? 

What better use for a flag than as a blanket! It spent 5 years at school on my bed - my room was often shown to prospective parents (not sure whether this encouraged them to send their son/daughter to the school or not), I often got some funny looks and occasionally people would ask why there was a Morrison's flag on my bed & where did it come from?  So I'd tell the story and the usual response was "oh, that's different" (with raised eyebrows)!  

Another plus side of the flag was that it came in handy during fire alarms, it always seemed to be the closest thing to grab - I would get many funny looks from the rest of the school who were all either in pjs, dressing gowns or still fully dressed (which I never quite understood at 3am in the morning)!  

It is currently enjoying life at University - it is always a conversation starter when I have friends round to visit! 

The flag in my room at school!

Next post - Carrier bags used for wallpaper? 

Which stores I've visited so far...

Currently on this crazy adventure of mine, I've managed to visit 148 Morrisons! For those of you who are thinking how can I prove this...I have also collected receipts from each store, unfortunately not detailing what I purchased but none-the-less it says the name of the store! 

Quite a few of these visits also have a story to go with them, I will write about these accompanied by pictures in a separate post.

The list: 

Chester  Morecambe West Kirby Paignton Gloucester - Abbeydale Bodmin Cleveleys  Blackpool Tiverton Taunton Tewkesbury Bristol Cribbs Causeway Bridport Totnes Weymouth Speke Southport  Preston  Colwyn Bay  Redditch  Bromsgrove  Stone  Nantwich  Walsall  Heywood  Rochdale  Kidderminster  Telford - Wellington  Swansea  Ross-on-Wye  Leominster  Shrewsbury  Hereford  Tavistock  Cheltenham  Todmorden  Widnes  Warrington  Winsford  Chorlton-Cum Hardy  Liverpool - Belle Vale  Morley  Bridgewater  Nottingham - Netherfield Newcastle Under Lyme - Goose St.  Scarborough  Harrogate - Starbeck  Malton  Ripon  Keighley  Buxton Stoke-on-Trent  Congleton  Weston-super-Mare Warminster Newquay  Liskeard  Redruth  Penzance  Saltney  Bath  Stockton  Darlington - Morton Park Peterborough (2012) Stanground (2012) Stamford (2012) Wrexham (2012) Bangor (2012) Caernarfon (2012) Frodsham (2012) Wilmslow (2012) Openshaw (2012) Rhyl (2012) Ormskirk (2012) Connahs Quay (2012) Denbigh (2012) Holyhead (2012) Salford (2012)  Manchester Grafton Street (2012) Kirkham (2012) Derby (2012) Newark (2012) Mansfield (2012) Mansfield Woodhouse St. (2012) Helens - Baxters Lane St. (2012) Helens - Boundary Road (2012) Oswestry (2012) Welshpool (2012) Lincoln (2012) Shepherds Bush (2012) Banbury  High Wycombe  Cardiff Tyglas  Crewe  Ellesmere Port  Leicester  Glasgow - Barrack Street (2013) Acton (2013) Middlewich (2013) Yeovil (2013) New Brighton (2013) Camberwell (2014) Peckham (2014) Birkenhead (2014) Windermere (2014)  Falkirk (2014) Blackpool Cornelian Way (2014) Oxted (2014) Huddersfield (2014) London Teddington (2014) Gyle (2014) Ferry Road (2014) Canterbury (2014) Manchester Picadilly (2014) Kirkstall (2014) Hilmore House (HQ) (2014) Bradford Thornbury (2014) Bramley Gosport (2018) Totton (2015) Portsmouth Leamington Spa (2016) Herne Bay (2016) Bristol Fishponds (2017) Preston - Blackpool Road Binley Small Heath, Birmingham (2018) Market Drayton (2018) Wincanton (2018) Plymouth (2018) Westbury (2018)  Eccles (2018) Whitefield, Bury (2018) Solihull (2018) Aldershot, Hampshire (2018) Southwood, Farnborough (2018) Fleet, Hampshire (2018) Stratford-Upon-Avon (2018) St Peters, Guernsey (2018) L'Islet, Guernsey (2018) Perelle, Guernsey (2019) Acomb, York (2019) Swinton, Manchester (2019) Reigate (2019) Southwark (2019) Exeter (2019) Crediton (2019) Sutton

The beginning!

Is there a store near you I haven't visited? Let me know about it.