Making Good Use

Shopping Ad Nauseum

During the nine years I was living in Essex, Bristol garnered itself another mega shopping mall - Cabot Circus.  To build it a lot of the 1950's monstrosity that was Broadmead was demolished and this paen to consumerism rose from the ashes.  I suppose it's nice enough as shopping malls go - it certainly has some very high-end shops in it like Harvey Nicks as well as every High Street name you can shake a stick at.  It is light and airy and has a mega Showcase cinema and lots of restaurants on the top floor.  On Saturday (as part of my nephew's 10th birthday bash) I visited it for only the second time (well, there might have been a brief third occasion but I was only looking for a loo that time.)

We had a very nice meal in an Italian restaurant with nine or so 10 / 11-year-old boys who mostly behaved themselves very well, plus a couple of Mummys, me (the token auntie) and Mum - in her role as Grandma, of course.  The restaurant was fairly quiet with plenty of space to enjoy ourselves.  Outside, though, the story was entirely different.  It is a very, very long time since I have seen so many people all hell bent on such an astonishing display of consumerism.  People didn't just have one carrier bag of new items, they had whole armfuls.  There were groups, families, couples, singles - all trotting off across the weirdly-shaped bridge (famous for inducing feelings of dizzyness and fainting) back to the multi-storey mega-sized car park eager to store their mahoosive amounts of new purchases in the boots of their cars and then join the ginormous queue of traffic exiting the Circus.

I have to say the whole experience of so much shopping and spending by so many people left me feeling rather unsettled.  I know it's probably me who was the odd one out there on Saturday (though neither Mum nor my sister ever go near the shops in Cabot Circus either), and I do realise that we need to have people spending in order to get our stagnant economy moving again.  Plus, I know full well that if people didn't spend lavishly and buy new items then there would be very little to be found later in the second-hand market.  It really felt to me that these people, with their armfuls of carrier bags, were treating their whole shopping experience like some kind of religion - and if that is what makes them happy then good luck to them.  I'm sure most of those at Cabot Circus on Saturday wouldn't enjoy a grotty old charity shop or a good rummage round a jumble sale - it's horses for courses.   But retail shopping as an Olympic sport? - no thanks, not for me.

Mum's Birthday Present

It may be a tad unconventional, but what Mum really wanted for her 80th birthday present was a bit of a makeover to her front garden.  The bed in front of her living room window had become totally choked with brambles, a stupidly large buddleia and self-seeding aquilegias.  Add into the mix a couple of stunted old rose bushes and a large shrub which attracted all manner of slimey slugs and snails whenever it rained (and it certainly can rain in the West Country) and the time had come to get something done.  Cue one lovely young chap of a gardener, a delivery of pale plum-coloured shale and four or five hours hard work and ta dah!!

Mum's front garden has been transformed.  She is delighted with it all and it really does look so neat and tidy and should be easily low maintenance from here on in.  

A few pots have already been displayed and Mum is now talking about getting some lavender plants and a nice large pot to add to the mix.  I particularly like the display of pansies in Mum's old tin 'clothes washer'.    I'd like to do something similar with an old jam pan I've got - it would look very fetching outside my front door.  So it's a bit belated (almost three weeks belated) but Mum finally has her birthday pressie.

Just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who left comments on the last post but one - I was very touched by your kind words.  I still haven't fully decided whether to carry on blogging or not, I'll see how I feel in a week or two.

Second-hand But New

A couple of weeks ago - when the weather seemed a lot more promising that it is now - I got my summer clothes out of their storage box.  When I'd hung them up in the wardrobe I realised that a) I didn't much like most of them and b) I didn't have half as many summer clothes as I'd imagined.  Well, luckily (!), the weather has been so miserable for the past week that I'm back wearing winter jumpers and long-sleeved T-shirts (oh, the joys of a British 'summer.)  Trouble is, I'm mightily fed up with all my warmer clothes too - having worn them pretty much continuously for the past eight months.

So, most serendipitously, this morning I found two never-been-worn-still-with-tags-attached tops which are warm enough for the weather at the moment but still fairly Spring-like in colour (I am hugely fed up with wearing 'winter' colours.)

Lilac coloured three-quarter sleeve T-shirt in a lovely long length.  Hadn't realised this one was brand-new with its original tags until I got it home.

M&S pure linen top, very nice quality.  Apologies for the 'frilly' effect to the sleeves but it's got one of those odd roll-up and button sleeve things going on - which I don't get on with so I unrolled the sleeves when I tried it on.  Both tops were £4.50 - which I initially thought was a bit expensive but, having realised they are both brand new, I now think were excellent bargains.  They both came from the same local hospice charity shop.

In case you were wondering why photos have suddenly reappeared - I took the opportunity of posting whilst being able to use Mum's camera and computer.  Normal photo-less service will, sadly, soon be resumed!!

Sweet Sixteen

I had a surprise visit from an old boyfriend over the Bank Holiday.  Well, I say it was a surprise but it wasn't really all that surprising as I am living in the same cul-de-sac where he grew up and where his parents still live.  I'd seen his parents around and they'd told him where I was living - which is a bit of surprise for all concerned (including me!!)  Anyway, although he now lives in London, his Dad is none too well so he was down to visit when he called in to see me.

We went out together for about a year when I was 16 and he was 17 and he was my first boyfriend.  We have met up again several times since then - the last time being well over 20 years ago as it was before I'd met P - and it is lovely that we seem to be able to pick up conversations and stories as if all the years in between have never happened.  Though when we compared ourselves to a photo he had on his phone of us in our 'youf' it was easy to see the toll the years have taken on us both.  He is now totally white haired and I have to hobble round with a walking stick. 

That photo has really brought home to me how soddin' old I'm getting - though as was pointed out, it was 37 years ago when we went out together so it's not surprising we've both changed a great deal.  I'd love to show the photo on here but Typepad is still refusing to allow me to put photos on the blog.  I really must do something about that ASAP or pack in blogging altogether - which I am thinking of doing, anyway.

It's a funny old world, ain't it?  I never in a million years thought I'd end up living just a few doors down from my ex-boyfriends family home.  Nor did I ever think when I was 16 that I'd become the wrinkled old bat hobbling round on a stick that I seem to have turned into.  Ah, to be sweet sixteen again and have all your life ahead of you.  I'm pretty sure it was Oscar Wilde who said 'youth is wasted on the young,' how bloody right he was!!

Hats Off to Hugh

Well, the River Cottage Canteen certainly didn't disappoint.  The food was superb, the staff friendly and knowledgeable and we all had one of the best meals we could ever remember eating.  If anyone is interested, our selection went as follows:  Mum and my nephew shared a South West fish board for starters, my sister and I had the onion bahjis and my brother-in-law had a pollack fish dish which doesn't appear on this week's sample menu.  For mains, my Mum and sister both had the chickpea and cauliflower curry (small quibble with that dish as Mum felt the chickpeas could have done with a slightly longer cooking time,) I had ham and eggs, my nephew had sourdough pizza (we sort of shared our mains between us and I can definitely say that the pizza was delish!!)  My brother-in-law had bangers and mash.  For pudding I had the chocolate pot (shouldn't be eating chocolate really but it was soooooo gorgeous - the nicest dessert I've had in many a long year,) Mum and my sister had yogurt pannacotta with rhubarb and hazlenut biscuit - which they declard was divine, my nephew had the chocolate brownie sundae (it looked superb,) and my brother-in-law had the Salcombe dairy ice cream.

The whole experience was first rate and we couldn't have had a better meal or a nicer time on Mum's special day.  River Cottage Canteen certainly isn't a budget option but for a special occasion - and they were certainly doing a roaring trade yesterday lunchtime - it would be hard to beat it.  We're not a family who like getting dressed up so the really relaxed and easy-going dress code was ideal for us, too.  I'm thinking maybe P and I can give it a whirl when he comes home for his two-week holiday, 'cos that'll certainly be a cause for celebration!!

It's a Big Day Tomorrow

Yup, tomorrow is a big day of celebration as my Mum reaches a 'significant' birthday milestone.  (I won't mention exactly how old she'll be but lets just say it's a pretty impressive 'round' birthday.)  As luck would have it, my nephew (Mum's most favourite little person in the whole wide world) has got the day off school tomorrow as his school is being used as a polling station.  We couldn't have ordered that better if we'd tried. 

To celebrate we're all going to try out Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new Bristol restaurant for lunch.  It should be a really interesting experience and we're all looking forward to seeing what we think of the food and the place itself.  I know my nephew has been studying the menu in the window quite closely on his way past each day from school.  Ah, he's a boy after my own heart - he loves his food. 

The handmade Happy Birthday banner will be getting another airing at some point and we're hoping to take in a little light charity shop perusing after lunch as the Whiteladies Road / Cotham Hill area of Bristol are a mecca for charity shops.  Though the prices are a little high, there are some fabulously high-end items to be found.  My sister has got an amazing wardrobe these days and all of it thrifted from chazzas in that area.

There will also be some homemade ginger cake - courtesy of my sister who is a wonderful cake maker - and no doubt a rendition or two of 'Happy Birthday' to celebrate Mum's day.  She was so nearly born 'Queen of the May' (May 1st) and only missed that title by an hour or two, but she has got May as her middle name to celebrate her birthday month.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow, Mum, and here's to many more.