Shopping heaven!

Saturday 13 June 2015

Cloudy cover 24 degrees

Got up early and wrote two blog posts - if I get beyond three days it becomes a real effort to remember what happened!  Then enjoyed a pleasant browse through FB and chatted to various people.  Dog is very tired due to the excessively late night.  I always wake up really early when OH is away.  Must make the most of the time he is on holidays to get lots of crafting done.

Put on my gorgeous new jacket with spangly buttons (birthday present from Ms Noddi) and jeans and my scales told me that I am just under 9 stone (55 kilos) which is the lightest I have been in ages.  Mainly achieved by giving up bread and dairy, though I do eat bread occasionally now.  I don't and wont eat dairy.  Have you ever heard a cow cry for her calf? The poor little ones aren't even left with their mothers for a day.  The cows are inseminated time and time again to keep them producing milk.  One of the good things about living where I do is that the babies are raised 'under the mother".  I was out with dog the other day and a mother and brand new baby were in the field.  She immediately sheltered him from me and the dog.  The baby staggered off and the mother followed, smelling and touching him constantly with her muzzle.  We walked on.  Upon re passing the field, the baby was lying down and the mother was standing guard.  Cows milk is for cows.  If you are wondering, I drink rice milk.  I presume no rice is hurt in the process.

Off to the big city in my trusty (hopefully) little car.  There was a huge piece of plastic roofing in one of the lanes of the motorway so I pulled over at the exit and asked a French couple for the number of the gendarmes.  They say they don't know.  They don't know the number to call for an emergency?  I pluck a short number out of the air (all the emergency numbers are two digits) and choose 17 and hurrah it is the right one and I pass on the information. Feeling public spirited, I head off to the shopping centre.

First I went to a divine kitchen shop called 'un bruit dans la cuisine' (a noise in the kitchen) and it is full of divine things I never realised I needed.  I mean needed!  Truffle and chocolate moulds, unbreakable flowery cups, little coffee cup sets, Bakelite type serviette rings and walls full of teas, coffees and infusions.  I am attended by a very keen sales assistant who can sense that I am weak and easily led.  I manage to extract myself after very nearly plumping for the chocolate moulds and went to Maisons du Monde.

http://www.maisonsdumonde.com  which is a sort of a mini Ikea then dived into the heaven that is Cultura.  I got some crystal resin, a jewellery mould and a button mould, some crackle glaze paint, a heat gun, gorgeous printed paper and an umbellifer stamp and felt that my head was turning so went for some quiche and salad and some fizzy water.  Saw rival agent and she looked surprised and said I was so blond and had I lost weight?  She worked for a French agency and now for an English one which specialises in very expensive houses.  I wonder how much of a living she earns?

Suitably refreshed, I headed off into the traffic and it was raining and the GPS on my phone wouldn't work so I got very very lost until I found Place Verdun and took the main road west and hurrah, there was Noz.  It was packed and smelled of rubber and I started feeling weird again so I left and went into Maxi Bargains next door and found some coir circles for planting seeds for just 4.50 euros for 36.  Bought some chocolate chip biscuits and then spotted a truffle and chocolate mould identical to the one in UBDLC except it was 5.99 instead of 18.99 so I added that to the basket.  I ended up buying some wallpaper with a print of tree sections.  Don't ask me why I bought it or why I only got one.  It was 2.50 so what could I do?  Finally ended up in Truffaut where I was annoyed by the fact that it was selling the same stuff as Cultura but cheaper.  Much cheaper - I am going to write to them and ask for an IOU.

Back home along a nearly deserted motorway.  Dog very, very ready to go out.  Wandered along the lane and he peed on many things.  Felt very tired.  Found lovely books by Terry Darlington in the letter box - late birthday present from KS.  Went to bed early with books and cup of tea.