Hello @ 21.21

I have to apologise for being a truly unfaithful blogger. Around midday today, I got back from a moderated hiking expedition; I passed! I suppose that therefore the lack of posting yesterday and this morning is perfectly excusable, but I got home ridiculously early (did the hike this morning in a crazy 3 hours, without breaking at all! yay! I suppose it compensates for the 1 hour 'detour' we managed to take yesterday) and instead of resting, unpacking and writing, I immediately went back out for a spot of much needed retail therapy.

-Now of course I am completely and utterly cream crackered, and have not even written the history essay I was planning to. I think at a certain point it's simply impossible to get work done so I've resigned myself to those rambling off-to-bed posts which used to be semi-regular. Having said that, this is a Sunday night, as they were originally planned to be!

-What did I buy today? Surprisingly, no clothes. Thankfully, the sun came out for our trip, as did my cream trousers and summery florals in the hope of a last-ditch attempt at dressing for summer. This means that there weren't actually any clothes I was compelled towards; too sunny for the winter clothes my mind has already switched to.

-Anyway. Stopping off at Selfridges, I bought two books. One classic which I've been wanting to read for years and am planning to read alongside a group of friends next month: Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) and another which I simply couldn't resist for the adorable front cover and wonderful name. My favourite French word is pamplemousse.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Madame-Pamplemousse-Her-Incredible-Edibles/sim/0747592314/2
I like to think that my reading diet is well-balanced and varied. I also spent forever with a fantastic book about costumes in Hollywood (I think it's this one), all the way from the start of film history to Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. I don't know why, but these things fascinate me so much. In general, I'm not a big fan of 'coffee-table books', finding them obscenely expensive and collectery. Does that make sense? At the till there was an obscenely rich buying I think three of these so-called coffee-table books, totalling around £150 which they paid in cash. Nosy, moi? I'm not even going to go into the hideously tacky ensemble of one of the lucky ladies for fear of sounding like a total bitch

-Apart from the books, most of it was pretty menial purchases; some nail polish remover because I am fed up of not being able to remove the two-week old paint on my nails, a lovely new fountain pen (to write my masterpiece..) and a sports bra to wear on my first ever proper run in a couple of days. Right...

-Ooh and I got my glasses adjusted and can now happily wear them. Phew! I was worried that there would be a sad ending to the spectacular story for a couple of days there. So, the moral of this post? Tiredness breeds intense materialism which is actually incredibly uplifting and helpful in forgetting about an unwritten history essay.