Rediscovery

When I worked in London, I was first based in Victoria, then in Piccadilly - both meant that venturing out on my lunch break had me on the doorsteps of a few too many shops. My lunch breaks were generally spent window shopping (most times without the 'window' bit), which led to many impulse buys, lots of money being spent randomly and not much unwinding happening during my break from work.

Now however, although I do actually work close to a shopping centre, I'd need to take the car to get there - and then attempt to find a parking slot which would probably take up half my break anyway. So instead, I use it the way I've always wanted to: as a break. I sometimes retreat to the warmth of the car and read for an hour. Or I walk a while and enjoy the scenery. Recently I've discovered my very own Secret Garden just across the road from work. I sit on a bench there and read. Sometimes it's far too cold to just be sitting there but I do anyway because it's so beautiful and so wonderfully relaxing. I return to work completely refreshed. (My mother has taken to calling me Mary Lennox...)

So since the weekday-shopping has ceased, our trip to Lakeside yesterday was quite the event for me. I refer once again to a previous post, Comfort Shopping... that really was how it was yesterday... I was just awed at the perfectly aligned rows of beautiful, colourful things. I didn't want to buy everything, just stand there and take it all in. The fact that all the shops were done up for Halloween and some Christmas creeping in too made it all the more magical. I felt like a child on Christmas morning!


Thank you once again for the birthday greetings that are still rolling in! ♥

Tomorrow is a tough day for David and myself. I might write about it when it's all over x

[img cred: Lakeland]