Sharpeners

I have to go to W.H.Smiths at lunchtime to buy a sharpener and a ruler. Why I've decided I need them at lunch is beyond me - by the time I get back to work, I'll only have half an hour to work on the picture I'm doing before I get back to work.
The stationery (or is it stationAry?) section of W.H.Smiths is a nightmare, a labyrinth of brightly coloured display files and novelty erasers, a maze of cheap drawing pens and packs of HB pencils. There are lots of excitable children about. It is half term. It feels I have spent all afternoon tracking up and down these shelves looking for a sharpener.
I am beginning to despair. I have sharpener-blindness. I scan the shelves carefully. All the brightly coloured stationary (or is it stationEry?) is giving me a headache. I find the sharpeners, but am now confronted with a new dilemma - too much choice, too expensive. I have sharpeners at home, but I need one now/I finally settle on a metal one which comes with an eraser. £1:99. This is very expensive. I shall probably lose them by the time I get home. I buy them anyway.
As I settle down in the break room at work, I realize I have forgotten the ruler.