 I
seem to have done a fair amount of travelling
just recently which, for me, usually includes
a fair amount of shopping. Having splurged
in Phase Eight before my tour of the South
Coast I managed to restrain myself a little
in beautiful Chichester, despite there
being no end of lovely shops to choose
from.
I was even quite sensible in Portsmouth's
seafront shopping centre doing as much
browsing as buying. I did splash out a
little in Cowes on the beautiful Isle
of Wight and completely went to town in
Union, Liz Earle's Botanical Skincare
shop in Ryde. What a delight it was, it
smelled just like my bathroom at home
and I justified some of my purchases by
bringing presents home from there. I didn't
catch sight of the lovely Liz herself
of course but her staff were absolutely
a credit to her and I thoroughly enjoyed
myself.
 Of
course the Island was full of yachting
and sailing gear, lovely Joules sweat
shirts etc., and some really nice jewellery
shops, but I did manage to practise a
little restraint. After all I had Winchester,
Stratford and beautiful Royal Leamington
Spa to do on the return journey. I did
succumb to a gorgeous dusky pink waterfall
cardigan (I have the same on in three
other colours) but I always think a cardigan
is so useful and anyway it goes so beautifully
with a pale pink and bronze necklace that
I picked up. I did, however, have one
disaster.
Trekking round the fabulous coastline
I realised just how heavy my Kathy Van
Zealand handbag is, with all her usual
hardware bits and pieces and so was tempted
into buying something lighter and more
appropriate. Stupidly I went against my
old rule of 'buy cheap, buy twice' and
picked up an inexpensive backpack type
bag which seemed great at the time. I
couldn't fault it's organizational qualities
and it was a relief not to carry such
weight about but sure enough, after only
three days one of the straps had lost
it's stitching and given way.  What
a waste of money. By this time I'd moved
on and wasn't able to return it, so I'll
have to put it down to experience but
in future I'm sticking to my investment-buying
principals. I was so glad I'd invested
in some really great Rieker sandals to
go away with, they were the most comfortable
pair I've ever owned and I'm not normally
a sandal fan.
 We
came home to awful weather and a garden
full of weeds but I'm not taking my holiday
clothes off just yet. I did take the sandals
off and swapped them for my Emu's but
I'm wearing the kaftans whatever the weather
throws at us. After all, I have a wardrobe
full of new cardi's to go over them and
I'm not giving up on summer just yet.
Actually, at some point this week I'll
have to drag the pilates outfit out to
get rid of the full English breakfasts
and three course dinners that are lingering
on my hips and thighs - I think Alpen
and yoghurt will be on the menu this next
few weeks and cream teas will be just
a fond memory. If it ever stops raining
here I'll drag the old bike out again
and put in some serious cycling, after
all we're off again in a few weeks and
I can't say no to the clotted cream scones
in Devon!
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