Car trouble

Saturday 23 May 2015

Sunny periods 23 degrees

There is something about a Saturday that says, go out shopping.  When I was little, my mother always loved to go shopping on a Saturday and we would go as a family, my father providing the transport and the funds, and my brother came until he was old enough to stay at home on his own.  He does still love a trip around the shops and goes with his own girls now.  Holidays would involve lots of shopping - hours for Dad sat in an armchair with the paper whilst my mother and I flitted in and out of the steamy changing rooms.  I remember in Debenhams, an arm appearing over the changing room door and a stream of air freshener heading my way.  

No one was available to come with me so I headed off up the motorway to our nearest city 60 kms away.  I was over taken by many cars and spent at least 20 kms behind a wildly weaving Spanish lorry.  OH's fishing/bricolage car has no peps and I didn't want to commit myself to an overtake that I was not sure of being able to achieve.

Eventually I left the auto route, set up Google Maps on my trusty iPhone and headed off into the traffic.  Truffaut garden centre was surprisingly easy to find.  My trusty iPhone did lead me into a cul de sac but fortunately a post lady on a motorbike was at the end of it so I was able to corner her and ask directions.

Truffaut is a massive garden centre with indoor plants and outdoor plants, crafting items, pots, fish, many small rodents (the French call them rongeurs which is a word my father used to use for people who wriggled in bed) and coin gourmand.  What they do not have is a coffee shop.  I would have loved a coffee to steady my nerves after the drive but alas no. Bought some coir circles and some watering trays and a packet of antirrinhums (snap dragons) which so remind me of my childhood, lining the pathway of my uncle's cottage in Wales where we passed all of our holidays.

I then got back into the car and, horror of horrors, it just wouldn't start.  Many lights flashed. I tried OH's trick of locking and unlocking the car, which normally works.  I thought oh bxxxxxd I am going to be here for hours.  Leaving the car, I found a bar which sold the much needed coffee and couldn't play on my trusty iPhone because using Google Maps had used up most of the battery.  Must invent solar powered charger for iPhones.  Every one's attention was taken by a personage who entered.  In her early sixties, she was made up for a night out in Las Vegas and wearing a dress so short that you could see her underwear when she took a breath.  Her legs were bowed and her tiny feet were encased in bright blue shoes like a kingfishers wing.  

I left and went to Noz which is an allsorts of allsorts kind of shop - sometimes you find wonderful things and sometimes you find rubbish.  Today it really looked as if it had been picked over by people desperate for marked down items.  I got five sheets of repro soap labels which will be added to my stash against the day when I will actually have time to do some crafting.

Back to the car and, after some fiddling and much turning off and on, it agreed to start and I went to Orthez and I had a little look at tablets and then found myself buying one.  I am worth it.  Car started again after a lot of fiddling and I got home.  The coir circles popped up like sponge cakes with the addition of a little water so I planted seeds and set up the tablet.  It is so fast!  Fiddled on that all night and collapsed into bed feeling worn out