Shopping

After a very wakeful night with James wanting to be up at 2 am and not settling until almost 5, we were all very tired and a bit grumpy this morning. Rather than moon about the house we decided to head into the town and moon around the High Street instead. It's a bit of a joke to call it a High Street as it has gone the way of many a town centre - empty shops, hairdressers, opticians etc. I remember when I was younger that the street would be thronged with people on a Saturday afternoon and the varied shops and cafes would be buzzing. Today it was so empty and sad looking that I half expected to see tumbleweed rolling down the monoblocked surface. The boarded up Woolies - in the same place since the 1920s, was a testament to the disappearance of what used to be the heart of the town. Nowadays instead of saying "Guess who I saw down the street?" - its "Guess who I saw out at Tesco's?" Doesn't really have the same feeling of community, but maybe that's just me.
Anyway - there are a number of charity shops of course, so we lurched into our favourite, which is the Barnardo's shop. it usually has the best selection of stuff, mainly because it is not in the pedestrian precinct, but on the street, so cars can park outside it. This means it is the easiest shop to offload your cast-offs to if you have had a big clear out. To get to the others located in the pedestrianised part, you have to park in the car park and walk a fair way dragging your bags of clutter - such is the way of our car-dependant culture.
Sorry - I didn't mean to turn this into a rant - sleep deprived hysteria maybe. I'll stop moaning now, because we did pick up a few goodies in Barnardo's today. Here it is arrayed on the table - some dinner forks (where do they all go?), a couple of brass candle holders in a size I needed, a Kate Greenaway illustrated book of Mother Goose, several photograph frames and a fabulous book called The Beatrix Potter Knitting Book, by Pat Menchini. I love vintage patterns and so couldn't resist this, even though I knew I would never attempt anything from it. Here are a couple of my favourite styles from the book. I just love the totally posed photographs - obviously shot in the Lake District. The Squirrel Nutkin coat and hat look great, and I adore the very pink Peter Rabbit set, which actually looks within my capabilities. Oh - and isn't this Benjamin Bunny outfit just the best? I so want to knit one each for James and Finlay! I'll add it to the list and dream on...