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Shopping

A busy day, yesterday. I spent much of it in Liverpool, wandering around the elegant Met Quarter with my mother. It’s not a particularly extensive designer shopping mall but we weren’t in a hurry to brave the sub-zero temperatures outside. We entertained ourselves by poking fun at spectacularly hideous party dresses.

I still don’t see why a designer label warrants such silly prices, when the garment doesn’t look much different from high street merchandise. Certainly the quality of sewing or fabrics weren’t noticeably better. It was rather amusing, however, to see an old acquaintance of mine scowling dramatically from a huge photo in Guess’s window...!

We wandered into Mathew Street and had coffee in the John Lennon Café. There was only one other group of customers in there, but the coffee was good.  Mum's flying out to Australia soon where she'll be for three months, visiting various relatives.

From there, we headed to the Christmas Market in Williamson Square. The fountain is (mercifully) switched off for this event, which sees a collection of Swiss log cabins set up around the square, each selling different kinds of international foods, toffees or crafts. I was tempted to buy some kangaroo or springbok sausages for Richard – but not at £4.40 for only six sausages. (For a similar sum, you can buy a small joint of beef or lamb here.)

In the evening, I went to our monthly Riverside Writers meeting, which was lively. Almost two and half years ago, Joanna McIlhatton had a cookery book accepted by a publisher who still hasn’t published it. She is also waiting for the publication of her book about country walks around Wirral, as the publisher (a different one) of this has been dithering for far too long, also. She’s had to update the text twice, and there’s still no publication date on the table.

Tim Hulme read aloud a wonderfully descriptive story called The Scarf, which he’d written in response to the group’s latest writing project, which had been set on a theme of December 21st. Peter Caton had also responded to this project, this time with a poem called This Cruel World. I hadn’t done this month’s project due to an honest lack of time, so instead I read aloud Fruit & Veg, which was last month’s project, (which had to begin with: “I’m an aubergine,” said (name). “What are you?”)
Next month’s writing project is set on The Diamond Wristwatch.

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