Today was the first time that I set foot into Mothercare, and I’m sure it will be the first of many visits. Doing my best Jeremy Clarkson impression, minus the tight jeans, we were looking and test driving prams and buggies – I had toyed with the idea of donning white fire retardant suit and helmet a la The Stig but thought better of it.
It would of course have been ideal to go the whole Top Gear hog and test drive three buggy/pram hybrids, commonly known as travel systems that incorporate a car seat, pram and pushchair, in mildly comic escapades across one of the world’s deserts or through America’s deep south with suggestive graffiti scrawled over them. Alas, we only had an afternoon and had already spent the princely sum of £1.50 getting over to Bluewater, so were happy enough to trundle them and take them apart in the store.
It was really quite amazing at the myriad of different travel systems avaialable…not to mention the prices they go up to. To be fair the Top Gear vibe isn’t really that far off as they are just like a little person’s first car, well mode of transportation at least, and you have to make sure that they are up to the job in hand.
The world of giant prams, like I had when I was a baby, are long gone as these devices are more like Italian sports cars crossed with Transformers, and include everything from optimum side-impact detection to pneumatic tyres and adjustable just about everything to sun parasol (optional extra of course). I’m sure there is probably a cloaking device and heat-seeking missiles in there somewhere as well, but we just haven’t come across them yet! Either way, Q-branch would no doubt be proud with the ‘optional extras’ installed.
In the end it came down to two travel systems, one the Silvercross and the other, Mothercare Mychoice, and after extensive testing around the store the Mothercare of the species won handsdown and also included an extra 10% off, which can’t be bad, even if the whole caboodle is probably worth more than my actual car!
Dawn of the Dad 