I feel I should apologise to all Random Readers for my somewhat bitty Jottings this week. I am now warming up for my Australian trip and am beginning to panic slightly at what has to be finally sorted out and accomplished before I leave. I have also been up in London looking after Florence which is a joyful, if somewhat exhausting experience now as she is a demon crawler, and so full of delight that she can move wherever she wants that the days of sitting on the sofa talking and chatting to her while she plays quietly with her toys are long gone. A fire guard is up and a gate at the door of the living room to stop her from vanishing into the kitchen as soon as you take your eye off her and all plugs now have baby safety stoppers. Objects have been moved to a higher level and new shelves have been put up in a room upstairs for the CD collection which is a source of perennial fascination for Florence as she pulls them off the shelves over and over again. She is full of grins and chuckles and it is wonderful to watch her developing and growing. The joy of having a grandchild is that she is permanent, which sounds a daft thing to say but sure you understand what I mean, she will be here for ever and I can watch her grow and develop and there is so much to look forward to.
Back has been giving me some pain since I drove back, all the lifting I expect, so Thursday was spent with feet up and just sorting out things on the internet re the trip. After working out that it will cost me in the region of £50 just to get to Heathrow on public transport with the resultant frustration and exhaustion, I have decided that as my savings are going on the Oz Saga, I may as well spend them well and I am going to book a car to drive me there from Colchester and to collect me when I return. I am going into Thomas Cook next week and getting one of their Travalex cards and preloading it with money so that I don't have to bother fiddling around with traveller's cheques etc. I will take some currency with me. I have notified my credit card holder that I will be in Australia so that they don't think somebody has cloned it and is spending wildly - they were very pleased I had informed them of this, so many people don't and then they find their cards are blocked.
I have my Kindle loaded with dozens of books, I have downloaded a whole shoal of Mozart onto my iPod, I have set up my Netbook with my email etc and my blog and am making up a separate page on Random Jottings for my travel diary (you didn't think you were going to get away from me now did you?) and I have purchased adaptors to take with me for all things electrical. I am making a list of all the chargers etc I have to pack and I am also putting some books into my suitcase (which I also have to purchase) as I do like to have a 'real' book or two handy.
Then the BIG issue - clothes. Since retirement I tend to slop around in my old clothes and have not really spent any money on new stuff for about two or three years now and when I pulled my summer clobber out of the wardrobe it made for a sorry and tatty sight. Baking hot in Sydney I gather and Kathryn has told me to bring lots of cotton and linen. Have been into the stores in Colchester and have come up with a complete blank and so today hied me off to Cambridge.
First stop, John Lewis and I trawled through all the various racks and shelves and I could not find a single shirt, blouse, dress etc above a size 14. I came across one rather attractive navy and white striped t-shirt in a large size but nearly fainted when I saw that it was £59. I am sorry but NO t-shirt is worth that so I left the store and headed for one of my favourite places, The White Company. Here I got chatting to one of their assistants, a very friendly and large lady who understood my problems. She went hunting and an hour later I left having purchased two fantastic pairs of linen trousers, one gray, one navy, a stunning off the shoulder thin grey wool short sleeved jumper and a scarf. I then poodled along to Wallis and found a long floaty cardigan in grey in the sale for £15. Then on to Marks and Spencer and oh dear. I took fifteen garments into the changing room and came out with two which were in any way ok and those were cotton shirts. The t-shirts were of poor quality, thin and shapeless and clung rather distressingly to all those places where clinging is verboten. Most disappointing - I also found that I had to try on a size some three sizes bigger than my size in other stores as they are now cut so small. Lovely sandals though and they ordered me a pair that I wanted but did not have in my size and the staff most helpful.
Five minutes in Next and straight out - full of frills and flounces and skinny tops and not for me.
Then into one of my favourite shops - East - and here I hit pay dirt again. Two gorgeous linen shirts, one in white and one in a beautiful cobalt blue and in my size and cool and the material streets ahead of M&S in quality and fit. Most helpful and delightful assistant helped me and we talked and chatted and I have to say that the entire day was a huge success and that does not happen very often with me when I go clothes shopping. When I stopped off at the White Company to collect my parcels, the staff there were really interested to see what else I had bought so stayed there having a delightful conversation with them all. Every single shop assistant I met today could not have been nicer or more helpful and, gosh, it really makes a difference.
Picked up the car and was driving merrily home, M11 and then A120, when suddenly there was a pinging sound and a little light appeared on the dashboard and I realised to my utter horror that I had forgotten to fill the car up before I set off and my petrol was perilously low. Slotted into the left hand lane and drove very decorously to conserve what was left and kept a look out for a petrol station. In case anybody is interested please note that there are no services between Stansted Airport and the turn off to Braintree. By the time I reached an overpriced BP I was sweating from every pore and I reckon I was dangerously close to an empty tank. Can you imagine if I had to ring the AA? Blonde woman driver runs out of petrol - you can hear the remarks already.
So home safe and had my supper and an early night I think. I have hung up all my purchases and it is a wonderful feeling to have some new clothes in the wardrobe. I spent quite a bit today but all the garments are going to last me a long time so don't think I have been extravagant at all and it is such fun to treat myself.
Back tomorrow - and with a book review no less!
