Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

 

Shopping

 

As much as want to write to you about shopping up Rue De La Haute Montée, which is lined with Printemps, Espirit, N’espresso, Gucci, Louis Vitton, and Hermes, I dare not set foot inside their marble doorstep with my Salomon clad feet. (Or my Beth Monster for that matter.)

 

No, this is from the commoners perspective, from the perpective of my current size 16 pear shaped figure, my size 8 wide and high arched feet. This is from the perspective of a South African, still half spending Rands, dreaming about Beef Rump Steak, and from that of an ex-chef, pretending to be so averse to the culinary charms of Europe, but still so deeply emotionally embedded in who I really still am at my very core.

The Cloth:

We arrived in France each with a suitcase of clothes.  I had packed them the day our house was packed up, and I had to take in my South African Winter, French Summer, and a little French Autumn.  The rest was all packed into boxes, and has spent the last 3 months in a warehouse in Jozi, a container aboard the MSC Athos, and is currently sitting in a customs parking bay in Felixstowe. (I am hoping it will be driven here in the next 3 weeks).

Needless to say, I am running out of warm pants, and in a moment of childless pleasure on Friday afternoon, I popped into the Place des Halles shopping centre to see if I could buy myself (with my South African credit card) some Bootleg Denims.

2 Shops later (H&M, and New Look), I came away empty handed. H&M had no Bootleg jeans that I could afford, and New Look had ONE rack, filled up with dark indigo or black jeans, size 8-14 in abundance. They also had an entire corner for the bigger size- shelves and racks of size 18-28, but on that one rack of bootleg denims, there was one size 16 left, and it was too short.

In a city where everyone else appears to be buying skinny-everything, why is there only ONE pair of bootleg jeans in my size and length?

I had a quick walk around to confirm my dis-belief.  I could have bought skinny jeans, skinny cordurouys, skinny jeggings, or even skinny-skinny’s.

Alas, I fear I will have to return, without a time frame to catch a tram in time for school pick up, without a handbag that gets in the way in the change rooms, a pair of shoes that I can slip out of with ease, with my credit card neatly tucked in my pocket, and my euro-rand conversion mentality at home. 

Also, more importantly, perhaps I should lose the jean size, so the size 14’s in abundance will easily find their way into my shopping bag.

And my last gripe regarding skinny pants?  Please can you just leave the fashion scene?  You are very intimidating.

Gumboots are a big Autumn hit here.  I think Alex’s fashion statement 2 years ago at Sprokieland spread over the ocean, because gumboots (AKA Wellingtons) are worn by many woman sporting skinny pant.  Leopard print gumboots are the most prevalent ones. I wait with baited breath for the Zebra stripes.  I was informed yesterday that gumboots are too cold fro actual Winter, so maybe the Zebra strips will not surface.

Scarves- woolen knitted; poly/acrylic blended splashes of colour; pashmina’s- they are all a dime a dozen, even on men.

Sports shops recently spent a week unpacking their ski season ranges.  It was the topic of hot discussion at my braai last week.  How do I insert an emoticon of snoring here?  Don’t get me wrong- Anton can’t wait to hit the boarding slopes.  I’m just not so sure about all that snow hey!  Boston (as in the KZN hamlet) had their bit of snow every few years, just enough to make us wet and cold, and feel sorry for the poor cows in their frozen rye fields.  There was no ski-ing or snow-boarding taking place in those graceful hills, so I have NEVER taken pleasure out of those dreaded white flakes falling out of dark clouds on a frozen morning.  Maybe next year I will look forward to snow gear being unpacked on the Decathlon shelves.

Beth has become besotted with belts, and we spend every shopping mission fighting with her, trying to reason with her almost 3 year old mentality why she does not need a 10€ Hello Kitty branded belt.  (Don’t worry- fashion is not her forté.  She told us this evening she will become a racing car driver when she grows up.)

Alex has matured nicely enough to know she can’t demand very much, but did manage to wrangle a pair of beautiful brown leather, faux sheep lined calf high boots.  We gave in, because she will wear them every day, and she really does look like a little French Mademoiselle in them.

Apart from these, I have relied heavily on Amazon, which has been a godsend while settling in, but we will be weaning ourselves off it by this time next year!

See my next posting later this week for my thoughts on food shopping. Maybe today I will attempt to hunt down some warm jeans again, I believe there is a cold front approaching this weekend.