Shopping and p*cking.

I bought shoes yesterday, finally. My nice old flipflops fell apart in Italy, so I needed something comfortable and presentable to wear for the summer. After much searching and liking of the feel of the Hush Puppies, I decided I didn't like the actual look of them, which was a bit of a shame. In the end I bought some Birkenstocks, on the basis that they're usually pretty reliable and are good shoes for more or less every purpose I'm likely to have in the summer. I came to the conclusion that it's worth spending money on decent sandals and a decent pair of boots, since I wear one all summer and the other all winter. Other shoes are more or less incidental. Not that these were horrendously expensive...just more than I usually try and spend on shoes. I like the colour though - they're a sort of bronze which will hopefully mean they go with more or less everything I own.

I've spent a quantity of today packing. I HATE packing. My room is an absolute tip and I need to do something about it. It's probably about time I made another trip to St Albans, I suppose. I shan't bother with the boxes, because since I filled them I've been into them for more stuff, but there are black bags full of clothes and soft stuff I could leave behind. I'm making progress though - I've got garden stuff and a bit of kitchen stuff still to do, but all that's left after that is the clothes I'm likely to need for the next month or so (which includes a wedding and a week in France!), my computer stuff, and a few other bits and pieces. And the plants and the fish. You know, the small things. *rolls eyes*. I'll take the fish to St Albans when my brother's back from Egypt so he can feed them. I'm not entirely sure I trust him with plants, but he'll probably be ok with fish.

Apologies for the brain dump - I needed to plan things a little bit. I'm going to put real clothes on (as opposed to the scabby tracksuit bottoms and comfortable old vest top I habitually live in at home) and wander over to Cineworld to meet the others to watch Die Hard 4.0 and have dinner and that kind of thing.

Memory Lane.

I went to Ashwell today, to see Olive. Ashwell's my home, if anywhere is. It's a truly beautiful village, and very old. There are cottages still inhabited that feature in the Doomsday book. This wall is pretty ancient, though I'm not sure exactly how old it is. It's made of wattle and daub, and the top is randomly thatched. The bees love it - the whole thing is basically a hive. When they restored it recently, they had to be really careful and only do it at times of year when they wouldn't disturb them. The hollyhocks cover the whole village, and are spectacular in the summer. I've seen colours there I've never seen anywhere else - like a peach colour, or a red so dark it's almost black. There are even double ones, but they don't breed true. Olive was saying that there are people who collect the seeds these days and sell them.

Olive took my by surprise by feeding me lunch...sadly my vegetarianism hasn't reached the ears of vast numbers of my family or old friends yet. Bah. This resulted in a slightly uncomfortable scene. Meh. Olive is very easy to offend, and I'll probably get an earful from my parents about it. It never occurred to me she was intending to feed me though - she never has before. Anyway. I had the vegetables and she had the casserole, and it could have been worse, I suppose.

Also, I split my good jeans. I'm annoyed about this. I've done my best to fix them, but whatever happens I'm going to need new ones soon enough. Meh. I also need new shoes, particularly flipflops since I broke mine in Italy. Clearly, this is going to be expensive.