things that annoy the fook out of you

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However, this was not the reason for Amanda Mulvaney and her mother Mary, who flocked to the store at 4am to avoid big gatherings of people.

Mary has a terminal illness, so Penney’s opening all-night was a saviour for her to get some Christmas shopping done, and it will probably be her only trip for the rest of the year.

“I’m actually with my mam and she has a terminal illness, so we found that this would be the best time because it’s basically empty,” Amanda explained to me.

“She wouldn’t be able to queue because she would get too tired and there would be too many people, so yeah she wouldn’t come up when it was busy so this is the best.

That’s the only reason why we’re here, this will probably be our only visit before Chris tmas unless they do some more 24 hours.”

I asked Amanda if she missed Penney’s over the six-weeks that it was closed, she said: “Not really no, it’s different because she is sick so all of that’s irrelevant.

“Obviously, people miss it but when you have someone sick it’s completely different, you don’t really care."

Ciara Smith and Santina Keddie both said they decided to pop into the shop at 4am because they were up anyway. As someone who has only ever gotten up this early before to go on holiday, I couldn’t relate.

“I don’t sleep at night anyway so I thought I might as well come in and get some shopping done,” Santina laughed.

“I dread (shopping) and I hate queues, so that’s why I got up and came out."

Shopper Ciara was picking up some “bits” for her children and said she did miss Penney’s while it was closed as she would usually pop in after getting paid.

“I just woke up at 4am so I thought that I would pop over. I thought it’d be a bit quieter too,” she explained to me.

“And I knew the shop was opening in me head and I saw my friends were shopping yesterday morning and they got loads of pyjamas and stuff so I said ‘ah sure i’ll go over’.

“I’m mostly getting stuff for the kids, they need leggings and that... I kind of have everything for Christmas.”

At 7am more shoppers began to trickle in but all in all, it remained quiet, and nothing compared to the queues that were seen yesterday.

Social media is quick to judge those who get up early just to go shopping in Penney’s. But, some were already up, others were just finished work, and those who are vulnerable may have no other choice but to go at off-peak times.

And to those who just wanted to have a browse and feel some sense of normality I get it, as pottering around, looking at the homeware and picking up some Christmas pyjamas certainly lifted my spirits.