Personally, I've never been to Kansas and I don't have a dog, let alone one called Toto, but 'We're not in London anymore, Dora, Diego and Boots' doesn't really have the same ring to it (in case you were unaware, those are the names of my kittens). Anyway, you know what I mean.
As today was my first day as a lady of leisure, I decided to do what any self-respecting lady of leisure would and go shopping. Because we are still a car-less family (yes, I refer to myself, my husband and our cats as a family - what of it?), my options for getting into Haslemere were to walk the mile and a half into town and then haul back my purchases, get a cab to and from town, or get the bus. I didn't fancy walking as I knew I'd have packages on my way home and a cab seemed slightly extravagant in the circumstances, so I opted for the bus.
Now, I'm a fan of public transport and buses in particular. Riding the bus is a great way to get to know a new area and though I've lived here for about nine months now, I've mostly been home at the weekend and with no car, tend to potter around the house or take massive hikes into the South Downs National Park. Today seemed to be a good day to change that. The nearest bus stop is about a minute from my front door, so physically it's quite convenient. However, the bus only comes by once an hour, which is a bit of a shocker if you're used to the frequent buses in London!
Armed with the timetable, I went to wait for the bus. And wait I did. Apparently the timetables are merely a suggestion and the buses sometimes come a few minutes early or up to 10-15 minutes late. Which isn't terribly helpful when there is only one bus per hour, but whatever, I made it into town and was just happy not to have walked!
Amongst other things, I visited the local DIY shop to get some paint charts. (Sidenote - I load up whenever there are paint charts. I, of course, get the ones from the color ranges I'm considering, but I feel compelled to pick up masses of others, as well. Colors I'd never paint a table, let alone a wall. I'm talking dark purples, teals, oranges. I have this idea that I can use them somehow for crafts, though I've yet to discover anything to make with them...) I get the impression that when a woman holding various shopping bags comes in, the men working in the shop aren't terribly impressed. This shop caters for trade customers, as well as DIY-ers, but I don't think the manager was exactly happy to be printing out lists of paint colors they stock and giving me price lists without actually making a sale! To be fair, I was going to buy some sample pots, but I had too many other bags already. I did ask if they delivered, but I think I was pushing my luck considering I only wanted four or five sample pots...
At this point, it was about five minutes past the time the one bus per hour stops in town and my arms were tired from carrying my shopping, so I just went to the bus stop and sat in the grass. Perhaps I should have gone for a coffee because clearly a young woman alone at the bus stop is a prime candidate for chat. Either that or I must have a face that encourages people to talk to me because I met a man at the bus stop. He was 75 and apparently his great, great grandfather was the Earl of Shrewsbury... hmm - not sure I believe that, as he was wearing a rather shabby blazer over a white knitted Nike top tucked into trousers that had seen better days. He was a very nice man and did sound posh-ish. I learned that he ran a local hotel for 35 years and he wishes he'd taken an opportunity he had to move to California when he was young. Fun times. Oddly, he was the second older gentleman to start talking to me and an older lady also chatted to me for a bit. Maybe they're a bit lonely or just confused to see someone younger taking the bus and not charging around in a Range Rover (there are a lot of yummy mummies here)!
Finally, I've done my first bit of decorating / DIY today. I hung a set of hooks. I even used Dan's electric drill (Sweetie, if you're reading this, I read all the directions and was very, very careful!) which made the whole process a lot easier. Now I'm going to go watch Nick Knowles' Original Features. Shut up. It's awesome.
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