A Sureal Afternoon

So, after this morning’s phone call, I went back to the shop (which is about a 15 minute drive) to go and try on those shoes again. After a bit more walking I realised they were rubbing a bit but the lady assured me that they would easily break in because of the material. I did like them and, although I was still wary of the price, I thought ‘why not?’ and bought them. I knew nan would love them because they are just the thing she would wear. We found out how much the handbag was and I decided against it, again because of the price (£50). I knew I preferred the shoes over the bag and was more likely to make use of them. I didn’t want to take advantage of nan’s kindness either.

Dad and I headed off to nan’s to show her the shoes and, as I’d guessed, she absolutely loved them. She was smiling and laughing and making me walk around in them and turn on the spot and then she even tried them on herself doing the ‘if only I still went out, I’d have a pair’ line. We discussed all the different things I could wear with them and had a great girly time. Then she asked after the bag and I told her I’d left it because that would be £100+ spent in one afternoon, which was surely too much. She gave me a right telling off, told me I was a fool and to never look a gift horse in the mouth, and insisted that I went back and got it. I could hardly say no.

So I traipsed back to the shop, told the assistant what had happened and returned to nan’s with the bag. She was just as enthusiastic about it as she was about the shoes and said that she was so glad I’d got them because it had given her a real boost and made her day. I still think it’s far too much money but she’s over the moon so I can hardly complain can I?

Photo found here.

Shoe-Shopping and a Great Nan

I was out with my dad this morning and happened to stumble on a very posh ’shoe and handbag’ shop. It is not a good idea to take me within javelin distance of these shops because it is inevitable that I will go in. The shoes were ok but not my usual style. However, I came across some that had literally just arrived and were coming out of the box onto the shelf. They attracted my attention because they were about the right height on the heel for me and I liked the strappy design. They were two-colours, which I don’t usually go for but the contrast between the black and white was striking. I tried them on and they fit immediately. I questioned whether they really suited me and what I’d wear them with. I decided that they would be a nice pair to have even though I understand they are not every one’s cup of tea. I asked how much they were and the guy said £59.99 and there’s a matching handbag available too. I took them off as quickly as I could without being rude and gave them back. Then I looked at them again as the guy was putting them away. I thought, ‘nan would love these and if she would pay a bit towards them I could be tempted’. I asked the guy if I could take a photo of them (he said I was the first to ever do this!) and then when we *happened* to pop into nan’s on the way home, I dropped them into the conversation and showed her the picture on my phone. She didn’t take the bait but I wasn’t too disappointed. I knew it was a long shot anyway.

Half an hour into my studying when I returned home, the phone rang. Guess who. ‘If you go and get them this afternoon and come round to show them to me, I’ll buy them for you. And did you say there was a handbag too? You might as well get that as well. Is a cheque alright?’ I was in shock. I didn’t expect her to offer to buy them for me and certainly not to throw in the handbag which must be £30 or more as well!

I’m going back up the shop to try them again this afternoon. I didn’t really take it seriously when I tried them on before and didn’t walk far in them. I don’t want to waste nan’s money if I’m not convinced by them and then feel guilty because I didn’t wear them much but I’m sure she’d be disappointed if I didn’t get them because she wants to buy them for me! It’s catch-22.

Will upload a photo to flickr this afternoon if I do buy them.

Blog Stats

There seems to be absolutely no rhyme nor reason to the number of visitors I have to my blog. It was quite high when first started on WordPress but then dropped for a week or so even though I was writing daily. Since I got back from my holiday on Monday, I’m getting double or triple the views I got last week. It seems so odd and I’ve no idea what causes the fluctuations!

Somewhere In Time

Adele and I were supposed to be going to fitness class last night but she was shattered and I wanted to save my money (spent way too much recently) so we decided to watch a film instead. Adele brought Somewhere in Time, which I have seen before but had kind of forgotten.

I really enjoyed it. Its a good one for when you feel like something nice and easy to follow with a nice bit of romance. It’s not a chick flick in the normal sense because it’s about time travel and history. I shall reveal the basics of the plot so stop reading if you don’t want to know.

Christopher Reeve’s character writes plays in the late 1970s and when he’s on holiday, he sees a photograph of an actress in his hotel. He is strangely attracted to this picture and finds himself going to look at it at every available opportunity. He becomes so attached to the lady that he goes to find out everything about her in a library and the more he finds, the more he likes her. He ends up falling in love with her and asks an old college lecturer if time travel is possible. He manages to travel back to 1912 (without the use of a time machine but through hypnotising himself – you have to just accept this bit and try not to question it) and he finds the actress who is doing a production in the hotel. Over a couple of days they fall in love. She, by the way, is Jane Seymour and Christopher Plumber is also in it. It turns out that in the photograph, she was looking at him and that was why he felt so close to her when he first saw it. Reeve accidently left a coin from the 1970s in his pocket and, when they’ve just agreed to get married, he spots it and this is the trigger that sends him back to the present. He is distraught because he is unable to hypnotise himself again and will never see her again because she died in the early 1970s. He dies a week later because he hasn’t been eating.

It’s quite a good story but, as things occur, you realise that they are kind of obvious and you probably could have guessed that it was coming. It was a book before it was a film and my local library has got a copy so I am going to give it a go.

Apparently, the author saw a photograph of an actress when he was in a hotel on holiday and found that he liked her and just had to find out more. He then thought it would be a good story if someone in that position could actually go back in time to meet the actress and that’s how the book was inspired.

There was a documentary about the film on the DVD, which we watched half an hour of last night. I’m going to watch the rest at lunchtime because it was quite intersting. I’ll probably end up buying a copy for myself at some point.

I think you should give it a go. It won’t knock your socks off but it is unexplicably appealing and you won’t regret having made the effort.

Never Take Me Into A Travel Agents

Went into Thomson yesterday to ask about some self catering cottages in Scotland for the summer. A very helpful lady gave me the right brochures and told me not to forget that you can collect or redeem nectar points at Thomson. Mum was very impressed with this and picked up a Short Breaks Offers brochure in the hope that she might find a weekend in Paris somewhere in it.

When we got home, I started browsing through Mum’s brochure as well as my own and I spotted a cruise! I’ve never been on one before and this one looked ideal. It starts on a Sunday from Southampton, Monday is at sea, Tuesday you’re at Bilbao in North Spain, Wednesday is La Rochelle in West France, Thursday St. Peter’s Port in the Channel Islands and Friday back home. Not only does this mean that I wouldn’t have to take any time off work but it’s really cheap as well. £549 for an inside cabin with bunk beds, £639 if you want lower berths and £729 if you want a porthole. You might not think that’s particularly cheap for a 45% off offer (meaning the original prices were £1000+) but this is the QE2 we’re talking about! Not only the QE2 with its excellent restaurants and posh dress code but the QE2 with a ballroom that has chandeliers and a live band! I ended up back at the travel agents yesterday afternoon getting brochures specific to the Cunard ships and it looks really good. Mum and dad are interested and I got a brochure for Adele as well. I’m not sure if anything will really come of it but you never know and what an experience it would be!

Unhappy with £50,000?

Just watched Deal or No Deal at lunchtime and this Irish guy dealt at £50,000 with three of the power five and two blues left to go. Turns out he had the £250,000 in his box. He was gutted and other contestants were crying. I reckon I would have done the same in his place; £50,000 is a lot of money.

Aiming for the Impossible

My Thomas Telford essay is to be 4500 words long. There are six sections within the essay and I decided to work on one today, converting it from confused notes into some kind of logical order that might read something like an essay. My notes on this section alone are 2800 words long; how am I ever going to be able to reduce this to the approx. 600 words that I can devote to this section? It really did not feel like I’d got too much information when I was researching. I felt like I’d just touched the surface. This is going to be impossible.

Happiness

Big congratulations to my sister who, as of yesterday evening, has a boyfriend! Mum and I are really happy for her but I think dad’s in shock; he’s no longer the main man in her life. We shall call the newby Clark.

I No Longer Want To Go To Canada

I was walking in the town centre of a well-known south-coast resort this morning, heading for a sandwich shop, when this guy came up to me (with a slight run so that he wouldn’t miss me) and began a conversation which went as follows:

Him: Hey, where you from?

Me: Why? (Slightly confused. Was he going to try and sell me something? What a weird question to start a conversation on.)

Him: I’m from Canada. My name’s Cad. Where are you from?

Me: (I told him the county. I didn’t want to be too specific.)

Cad: (He picked a random town from that county, which I’m surprised he’s heard of, and asked if it was that one.)

Me: No, it’s further south-east than that. (I know Americans are very enthusiastic about our little country and I thought he might be interested in learning some geography and cultural things and couldn’t stop himself from talking to every English person he met. I was wrong.)

Cad: Who do you support?

Me: What, you mean football?

Cad: Yeah.

Me: Oh, I’m not into football.

Cad: But who’s your local team?

Me: (I told him)

Cad: So you’d probably support them then?

Me: Probably. (Not feeling entirely comfortable now because he keeps beaming this smile at me and I’m thinking he’s probably not that interested in football himself. Do they even play our-style football over there anyway?)

Cad: My name’s Cad, what’s yours?

Me: (I told him and immediately regretted it)

Cad: Hey, Tom, this is (jjr14). This is my friend, Tom.

Me: Hi

Tom: (grunt) (standing some distance away)

Cad: Are you going up (I’ve forgotten the place’s name) on Friday night? (I assumed he meant somewhere local; a club probably)

Me: No, I’m going home today.

Cad: Oh, (looking quite disappointed). Are you coming back?

Me: No, that’ll be it for this year probably.

Cad: Do you have a boyfriend?

Me: No.

Cad: (looking cheery) Do you want my number in case you come back?

Me: No thanks.

Cad: Are you sure?

Me: Yes, I’m alright thanks.

Cad: Oh, well. It was nice meeting you.

Me: (I honestly couldn’t return this remark). Thanks.

Then he shook my hand and stood there looking at me and smiling but not letting me past. I eventually got away from him, dived into the sandwich shop and hoped beyond all hope that Adele would find me soon. I was rather shook up and I could still hear him outside. Are all Canadians this forward? I thought it was only the Americans. Is this how they ask other people out over the other side of the pond? We English are so much more reserved. I mean, if he’d started by asking if I was a local or a tourist myself and then went on to discuss places that we’d been that might be of interest to each other, then that would be fine. I’ve had many comfortable conversations along these lines but never one that starts with one participant doing a quick hop, skip and a jump to get to the person and a beaming smile and an enthusiastic ‘where are you from… my name’s Cad’. Don’t people usually get to know each other a little longer than two minutes before the ‘do you want my number’ line? I hope I didn’t offend him in any way. A bizarre experience.

Of course I still want to go to Canada but this little episode did make me question it a little!

Life Ambition Number 8

It looks like Life Ambition Number 8 will be realised this summer. Today I booked tickets to see Riverdance live! The seats aren’t quite as close as I would have liked but I still think we’ll get a pretty good view. Cindy and Adele are coming too so it should be a good girls night out. It’s pretty expensive but I’m hoping the price reflects the quality of the performance. I’m looking forward to it already!