SAT 7th AUG : SOLO RETAILING

Smile - Pass It On

I still remember the Saturdays of getting slowly out of bed, making egg-influenced breakfast and a nice cuppa tea. Maybe the paper.

Altenratively I had two lone shopping outings today. Well, I had to duck out pretty early: I got the Lady in a mood, especially after I argued last night with her when she asked me what I was still doing at work. Then I broke her oh-so-dear-to-her favourite soap dish this morning. Oh, what a palaver.

Of course when the assistant at Crate & Barrel dropped the metal replacement into the oversize bag with a clang that made even the security guard jump, I realized that it won't be right. There are some purchases that boys can't do. Soap dishes is one of them: My purchase wasn't right. My reasoning for purchase: it's metal and there's a lot of brush metal in the apartment. Her reasoning: I broke a pretty china bowl and there's no brush metal in the bathroom.

In order to 'step up to the mark' I agreed to go get the paint for the bedroom down at that place on Spring & Varick. A loveable octogenarian helped me out and identified me as being British when I asked for, 'I need like a pot of paint, this colour here.' 'We used to call them pots when I was an apprentice,' he told me but things change and now in America it's just called a can.

How language changes: I wonder if I just use use some quaint older language some of which has been forgotten by Americans in their daily use or that the differences in word use is long standing? Am I freak for using words such as 'pot'? And what about 'tin' for a can. Hey they had 'tin can alley'. Surely they used to use the word tin or tinny!

I told my octogenarian friend about my Teeny Bear/Tin of Beer conundrum and he looked at me for a moment. 'Tin? Beer?' he challenged. 'No. Never heard it like that before.'

Befuddled, I carried the paint to ABC Carpets who had flirted a deal for a decent chocolate brown rug for the apartment. Why hadn't I been there to help? Sometimes it's best to keep schtum and not respond. Does the Lady really imagine that this creepy sales guy would give you 50% off if I was hanging around?

btw: Have you ever seen the Queen of ABC Carpets? Everytime I've been in the ABC Carpet store this rather majestic Russian-looking woman sits on a pile of carpets: her back arched, one knee raised up, her arms behind her supporting her pose, her chin pointed as she surveys the scene. Decadent forty something smoldering look. Big blonde Ivana Trump style hair. Fantastic.

Posted by Guy Brighton on August 7, 2004 at 06:39 PM | Tags/Topics: | | (0) | | Add GB To Your News Feed

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