CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS NO 3 - SHOPPING

I do all the shopping for presents and, on the whole, am quite happy to do this.  Most of the time I bump into people that I know.  Never one to be backward about coming forward I will often fall into conversation with someone and no more so that Glasgow wifies sitting on the train or flicking through the clothing rail in, say, Marks and Spencers.

The covered shopping mall in Buchanan Galleries is once of my usual haunts.  At this time of year I reckon the whole of the city should have a glass roof over it!

Lots of sparkles in the mall.

And Princes Square had this big tree in the middle of the central well.  I remember when our children's orchestra played there.  The shop owners on various levels situated around the open well really didn't like it at all... "too much noise"!

On the very top floor of Waterstone's, Sauchiehall Street, Bookstore is this piano in their coffee bar. It's for the public to play.

And this is the stool that was with it.  It is certainly very colourful!

I loved the funky signs at the Milngavie British Rail Station platform coffee kiosk.  I said to the chap serving the coffee that there was a wonderful smell of frying sausages coming from his van.  "It's just my after-shave!"  says he!

I came across an outdoor clothing store on Crow Road called Cotswolds.  It was like walking into one of the stores on 4th Avenue in Vancouver!  This brand of outdoor clothing caught my eye 'Arcteryx' which is made in North Vancouver.  I bought a jacket there when Alastair took us to the store some years ago...still have it.

Finally this photo illustrates one of the many headaches when it comes to parking around Glasgow.  Just about everywhere is now organised such that you have to pay at a machine for a parking ticket.  That's fair enough; what irritates me is that often the machines don't work, or in the case of the photo above, you can't find it!  Finally I asked a passer-by and she pointed to the hedge where it was very cleverly concealed.

GRANDMA GOES SHOPPING

Time and fashion have passed me by. Somewhere along the line I have missed out on high street trends in clothing.  Maybe it is because when I shop I observe that most of the clothes are the style and size for 12 year olds, e.g. hipster trousers, blouses that leave half the midriff showing.

 

Be that as it may, I bought these socks recently at The House of Bruar in Perthshire.  I always thought this was a one-stop shopping 'experience' for the mature individual looking for quality cord trousers (men) and button-up cotton shirts for women ... something you might wear to the office.

They also carry Austrian and German brands which, needless to say, are Quality with a capital Q.

Well, I bought these socks (above) , Burlington brand, made in Germany. When I got home I took the card tag off by cutting the thread which was stitched in 2 places to one of the socks.  (At least it wasn't stapled.)

I then noticed that there was a stud located mid-sock ... I would call it a 'rivet' because it has a metal back to match its metal front. As shown in the photo above, it is about the size of the end of a pencil.

For the life of me I couldn't get it off.  If I used scissors it would only make a hole in it.

Before I phoned The House of Bruar to ask how I would get this bit of packaging off I decided to google the brand.  

Yes... you guessed it ... it is meant to be there! It is called a 'clip'!  Nowadays we not only have ironmongery in people's noses and every other part of the human anatomy but we also have them skewered into ... the humble sock!

STOCKHOLM

While the focus of the media is on the European Union, particularly Italy's rising debt, the rest of us go about our daily lives. To that end Maggie and I headed to Stockholm, Sweden for 3 days to visit friends and do a bit of shopping.

One advantage of living in "Europe" broadly speaking is that travel is so much easier than it used to be. Borders are easy to cross and there are these low-cost airlines operating (often using former military airfields) which have established a whole new economy related to movement of ordinary people back and forth. We flew RyanAir from Edinburgh to Skavsta (1.4 hours' bus ride from Stockholm) and it was absolutely great both ways. Yes, you have to obey the rules about luggage size and weight and have all your internet booking print-out in order but ... for a low-cost airline the 2 hour flight could not be faulted.


I am basically a Northern Latitude person. Apart from the lovely people that we know in Sweden I like the fact that I am simply "part of the wallpaper". Maybe I have Scandinavian genes somewhere in my background? Being tall and of light of skin and hair I don't stand out as a tourist. In the street I look just like all the other women. And I love Swedish cuisine: pickled herring, rågbröd (rye bread), cod roe paste and, of course, all those trees!

I took these photos on my iPhone... amazing! The time of day was 3:30 pm with the most glorious golden pink sky as the sun set.

The last of the sun just hitting the top of the clock-tower of Saint Jacob's Church (not far from Marimekko - my most favourite shop!)

Walking to the Gamla Stan (Old Town) from the city centre over the Riksbron Bridge.