Black Saturday

Apparently, the no-shopping day in Europe was yesterday. Oops, I should have read Mel's post on Black Friday a little more closely. I went shopping yesterday in the heaving morass that is Oxford Street/Regent Street in direct contravention of European anti-consumerism.

My in-laws were in town and they actually like that sort of thing. I understand that when you live in the provinces it can be exciting to shop in the glam hustle and bustle of London, but they live in Edinburgh. They have a Harvey Nick's there for goodness sake, I can't see why in the world they'd want to go to the one here.

We met them for lunch in a cafe not far from the Vol-in-Law's work. The food was passable, but the toilets were amazing. There were nearly life sized murals of nekkid men painted all over. And these paintings were...anatomically correct as well, no well placed drapery in sight. They were men of all color and different amounts of chest hair and circumcision status. In my stall, the tackle was right at eye level and gently lolling onto his thigh. I wanted to warn the Vol-in-Law's slightly doddery aunt as she made her way to the loo, but I just couldn't quite find the right phraseology.

Afterwards, we went our separate ways as I wanted to go to Liberty. I don't know why, as I can't afford a damn thing in there. I tried on a smashing hat made of fluffy lamb - but it was actually strikingly similar to the two I already have and it was £150 - which is nearly $300 in real money. (The Cabela's hat is clearly a better deal) I also saw a beatiful pair of leather gloves in Tennessee orange. They felt like butter, they were so soft, I must presume they were made out of Romanian baby orphan...cows. They were lined with cashmere and fit me like, well, a glove. I wore them for a little bit and they made my existing coat look like the shabby drab second hand overcoat that it is. I really wanted them, but they were £70 (c. $130). I set them down.

We then went on to Dickens and Jones, which is shutting down after Christmas, so I was hoping for some clearance bargains. By this point I realised that I needed an overcoat worthy of those gloves should I break down and go back for them. I tried on a lovely black coat, but even in the process of trying it on I managed to transfer some of Other Cat's hair to it and that wasn't so attractive. We then found a clearance area for bed linen. I love stuff like that, so I spent about a half an hour with the Vol-in-Law rummaging through those. (Big points to the ViL for putting up with this.) We got some amazing bargains. We needed a new duvet cover, but we got two.

One was super cheap - 100% combed Egyptian cotton, for £15. The other was slightly more expensive (at £40) but it was Marimekko - and I do love my Finnish design houses. It was this pattern, Unikko designed by Maija Isola. Lovely. Perhaps not my favorite Marimekko pattern, but lovely nonetheless.

I'm so excited, I want to strip the bed immediately, but the ViL said he would prefer not to, and it's really a two person job.