At the market and other shopping

[callmemadam]

Wot, no book reports? I am way behind on these. They’re in my head but it’s so hot where the computer lives and I don’t like writing on the laptop, so they’ll have to wait. I really admire Cornflower and other writers who are maintaining their usual high standards.

The only way to shop at the moment is online or very early in the morning, and I’ve done both. I’ve been looking for ages for a summery bag and then the other day found just the thing in my favourite local independent shop. It’s this one, but blue. ‘Fun, funky and fair trade’ is the company slogan. What I like about this bag is its Tardis-like property; it’s much roomier than it looks. I’ve also been buying at Anthropologie again. When I had an email saying there was a further 20% off sale items, I had another look. I bought a jumper plus a top which I’m wearing right now, and I saved an incredible £115.00 on the original prices, which I would never have paid. Win!

At the market I was pleased to get a nice copy of Clare Balding’s My Animals and other Family for a pound. I’ve been wanting to read it and it has the prettiest endpapers! For a mere 50p I bought The Landscape of Love by Sally Beauman. Pristine copy and when I got it home I found it’s signed. A new author to me; anyone read any of her books?

The plant growers have started selling off stock cheaply. Cosmos are doing brilliantly in the garden this year and I bought a pot of five strong plants. They’re intended to fill an unsightly gap and I’ll probably be planting them at about seven tomorrow morning. As all pots were a pound, I also bought an angel geranium in a large pot, because. Plus the usuals. The fridge now reeks of strawberries and melon, which I’ll probably be living off this weekend.

Comments

[gwendraith.livejournal.com]

Online shopping has been such a help for me, not only while it's so hot but because I can't physically go shopping for things I want to buy (I can manage the supermarket a bit by being hunched over a trolley). Stuff like a new hozelock tap adapter, new garden broom, a replacement bin for the kitchen. So much easier and usually cheaper online. Mind you I'm horrified when I look at my amazon account and see how much I've purchased over the last couple of years in particular.

I love your bag, you'll get your aspidistra in there :) I didn't hover long on the site as I have a terrible bag fetish.

The geranium is pretty. I've had that one myself on several occasions.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Question: How to revive the high street?
Answer: Take away people's credit cards.

I wouldn't be without online shopping, so many benefits.

[gwendraith.livejournal.com]

I suppose we have been fairly lucky here in Ely that we have a buoyant High Street with very few signs of an ailing economy. I think market towns do quite well plus we are in the commuter belt for Cambridge (15 mins) and just about London (hour and 10 mins). I don't actually have a credit card, just a debit card, but I know what you mean. No cards no online shopping.

I wouldn't be without online shopping either although I do usually enjoy shopping in Ely.

[auntyros.livejournal.com]

I bought an earthsquared bag when I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago! Mine is even more tardis-like, being basically three bags stitched together. When it's fairly empty, it is very compact, but each compartment can carry a lot of stuff. I couldn't see it on the website but it is pink, cream and brown in different fabrics - gingham, spotted and floral. I love it.

I think I read a Sally Beauman book once but I can't really remember it. She also wrote a retelling of Rebecca.

[auntyros.livejournal.com]

Found it: http://earthsquared.com/acatalog/fairtrade-alice-bags-poppy-red.html Only mine is prettier. ;)

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

That looks super-useful. I'd never heard of the company before but it will be a go-to from now on.

[gghost.livejournal.com]

It's been very hot here, too. Today we got up early and did our errands in the morning, and we are waiting for a later showing before going to a film tonight.

Your bag is lovely. It looks very commodious without being terribly large.

I actually have the same Sally Beauman novel (here in the US it was published under the title The Sisters Mortland), and I think that I am going to move it further up in the TBR stack.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Our first heat wave for seven years!

The Sally Beauman novel looks so new I didn't realise it's actually one of her earlier books. It's quite near the top of my pile, now.

[cornflowerbooks.livejournal.com]

Although it has been very hot here too, the study faces east so keeps nice and cool, hence my continued online 'blethering' ...
It's ages since I've read any Sally Beauman but I remember enjoying her Rebecca book, I think, and picking up Dark Angel when getting over a bout of flu - in the circumstances I may not have made the most of it.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to know you're not slaving over a hot desk. My window here faces south, so it's curtains drawn.

I'll see how I get on with Sally Beauman; always nice to find a new author.