Here we are again, then…

This pre-Christmas shopping jaunt has become a bit of a tradition for us.  The first year, we snook away in the depths of a miserable November, hoping for a little lightness as Mummy failed to recover as hoped from her stroke.  We took advantage of remarkably good prices for flights, treating ourselves to the luxury of Upper Class for the first time.  We were amazed to find few people travelling that weekend because of the Thanksgiving holiday, cheap hotel rooms for the same reason and unbelievably deep discounts on top of discounts in the shops.  The start of the Christmas season in the USA is so delightful, too.

It was a little dreary when we arrived yesterday but the forecast is good and from reading emails from friends back home, considerably warmer here than there.  Today, sunshine is forecast with a chill wind, tomorrow the wind will drop, we’re told, and it will be a glorious day.  We’ll see…

Of course, it’s warm in the shops, so warm last evening, that people were wearing T shirts, making us look very strange wrapped up in coats and scarves.  We took advantage of some of those offers, after all, 30% off the whole purchase in my favourite store just couldn’t be refused.  There was 40% off everything in the shop opposite too, where lovely twinkly cashmere gloves and scarves were in the window, tempting me in.

I can see, it’s going to be a fun day today!

Meanwhile, Edward’s at home, holding the fort and driving himself in my car to a party tonight.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the snow holds off.

Late to the party, again

To the film party this time.

We don’t go to the cinema often and tend to store up lists of films we look forward to watching on a flight somewhere.  Those which we really, really want to see, we’ll get on DVD if they don’t show up along the way courtesy of BA or whoever.  Others fall by the wayside as we forget all about them until they turn up on TV years later.

One film was on our list, because it was premiered when we were in New York this Summer and we’d read good things about it.  But it had slipped our mind until we looked through the schedules today, when we boarded our flight to Boston for our annual pre-Christmas shopping trip.

Despicable Me is possibly the best film we’ve watched in ages.  We thought it was even better than Up – possibly because it didn’t have that schmaltzy, sentimental side to the story.  The characterisations were terrific, the small details so clever (we must have missed so many, we really want to see it again).  Quite why we didn’t rush to the cinema to see it when it first came out, I have no idea…but if we had, then our flight today wouldn’t have been anything like as much fun!

Chalk

One of my friends has opened a gift shop in Southfields, London, so yesterday we planned our first inspection.  Of course, Chalk passed with flying colours!!

Sadly one friend didn’t make it.  Nita waited for her train but after standing for two freezing cold hours on the platform, very sensibly gave up and went home.  We missed her.

 

As you’d expect, Chalk is a classy place with all kinds of things that Lynn and I were keen to buy.  I’d also say that they have the best selection of greeting cards that I’ve seen – who knew that you could buy a card for so many occasions?

Jenny was taking care of the “front of house” whilst we chatted – her jewellery is amazing and remarkably affordable too.  Paulene’s done an amazing job to get all of this together so quickly and with lots of well-chosen, one-off treasures, nothing expensive and everything beautifully displayed, yes, of course we bought!

Couldn’t put it down

My Kindle, that is.

I’ve just finished my first full length novel delivered direct to it and I must say, I loved it!  I’d browsed my recommendations and having read a review of the title in a weekend paper, I’d earmarked it as my kind of thing already.  So, I hit ”buy” and within seconds it was there, ready to read.

Those recommendations were correct because from the moment I began the story of “twenty years, two people” I knew that I was going to love it.  The device of beginning each chapter on July 15th, moving forward one year at a time meant that the tale moved fast and didn’t dwell on the minutiae but rather swept along and allowed me, the reader to fill in the gaps. 

The Kindle remembered exactly where I’d left off each time and a slide of the button took me to the spot where I could start again.  Five minutes sitting on the bus was enough to enjoy another few pages, because the Kindle is small enough to fit in my bag. 

The problem?

Well, unlike a conventional book, the cover isn’t always apparent and for some reason, I simply could not remember what book it was that I was enjoying so much.  Even now, having savoured those last pages and sat back with a sigh, I can’t immediately recall the name and author!

All the imagined niggles came to nought – there’s a clear indicator of progress, it’s easy to see how far into the book I’d read and the battery life is incredible.  No worries there.  However, if I am to recommend you read the story of Em and Dex, Dex and Em, then clearly, you need to know where to look. 

Start here.

But be prepared with a hanky…

What fun, too, that David Nicholls has shared Emma’s playlist on Spotify!

Update on Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 10:46PM by Gill Thomas

Thanks to Janice, I found this.  One to watch out for (now I know the title....)

One Hundred Million

What does one hundred million look like?

I had no idea until I stepped inside the huge Turbine Hall of Tate Modern yesterday afternoon and gazed at a sea of grey.

Once downstairs and on a level with Ai Wei Wei’s thought provoking installation, then things begin to become a little clearer.

We were astounded to see each one of these sunflower seeds was truly different from the others and spent quite a while marvelling at the concept, the execution, the sheer brilliance of the man.

We’d watched the Culture Show on the previous evening and further enlightened by the film showing there alongside the seeds themselves, we felt surprisingly moved by the whole of this stunning project and what it represents. 

We loved it.

  

It certainly overshadowed all of this.