Shopping and Arab Princesses

I had an email saying the toothbrush sender was away and his father was sending the toothbrush, so it would probably not arrive before Tuesday.

My son and his wife invited me to dinner. My son cooked his signature dish, guinea fowl in a delicious sauce served with rice. We finished with some very good Spanish dessert wine and coffee. Another late night.

My daughter-in-law had told me there was a half price Magimix food processor in Selfridges, so I shot up there this morning, but it was gone. I went past the new Primark in Oxford Street. It had been open for three days, but there were still queues all around the building. After this I bought a MAC lipstick in Russian Red, which stays on well, and went to Marks & Spencer to look at their garden furniture in the sale. There was nothing much for me, but I managed to buy some clothes and a bag.

I had lunch in their basement cafe - so much better than John Lewis, in that a girl was handing out sweets to the people waiting in the queue, the food limited to a few hot snacks, sandwiches and desserts, and served on lightweight crockery. I also had help to find a table, laden as I was with shopping. I was very impressed.


I sat next to two extraordinary
-looking women: in their thirties or early forties, speaking Arabic I think, both perfectly made up with nose jobs and lip expansion (so to speak), dark bouffant hair, and one in particular looked very impressive,with kind of pull-on platform shoes made of some elastic material in gold, covering the entire foot, gold pedal pusher cargo style pants, a greeny gold top held around the neck by an enormous chain, and what looked like a honey coloured knitted fur jacket, sunglasses the sides of which were solid diamante, and a diamante encrusted mobile phone. I could not take my eyes off her, as she drank the small milk containers before sweeping off with her friend.

My son tells me the bit above is racist, and that i don't get out enough. Well, it wasn't meant to be racist, just amazed, and I really probably don't get out enough.

I still need to buy some broccoli for lunch tomorrow, but have texted my son to ask them to buy it and slept all afternoon instead, worn out by shopping.