A Grand Day Out (again)

Sometimes a change is far better than a rest – I’ve had a really gratifying day in London and feel like a different woman for it; it’s comforting to know I’m only just over an hour away from one of the world’s great cities. It’s also comforting to know that I’m something more than an hour away from more temptation than my credit card and I could handle.

A fruitless search for the Scottish ones projected birthday present was followed by a book bloggers evening sponsored by Penguin. I wanted very traditional whisky tumblers – which apparently no one sells anymore. I tried John Lewis in two incarnations, Liberty, Fortnum and Mason’s... Surely all bastions of the traditional – or so I thought until today. Someone suggested Harrods but my feet hurt and my temper was going at that point. I also thought I was about to get lucky in F&M’s having explained exactly what I wanted – you know, something that makes you think of antlers and tartan and other Scottish clichés. The glasses produced had palm trees etched on them. Palm trees. Not dare I say it either traditionally Scottish or whisky related, also they were £108 pounds each; I appreciate an attempt at switch selling probably more than the next person but NO.

The blogging thing was more successful and not just because of the wine. Meeting other bloggers has so far been an unqualified treat, the author readings were short enough to make me want to hear more (which is the perfect length), and there was a goody bag. I’ve come home with a pile of books I would probably otherwise have ignored and the inspiration to read them (a win) as well as a few I bought. The mini modern classics were an impulse purchase at the train station (please can Foyle’s start a countrywide expansion) and I also got ‘There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbours Baby’ after Polly at Novel Insights spoke highly of it. (So far as good as it is dark).

My train home ran on time and the bills in the post were balanced by a copy of Pam Corbin’s ‘Cakes’ (thank you Bloomsbury) and now I’m clean, fed, happy, and ready for the rest of the week. Oh and I got an owl money box which I’m really quite in love with – maybe even enough to start some sort of saving.