Technically speaking, according to the calendar, it is not really the last week of summer, that won’t be until the end of September. But looking at the weather forecast ahead, temperature wise, it might well be. This doesn’t matter though, right? Also yesterday was Wednesday so the 3rd day of my so called last week of summer, not the second. I know exactly though why I got confused about the day of the week: I did not work on Monday – the first Monday in September is the day where the traditional Braderie – a summer sale street market – happens in Luxembourg City, and our office is closed that day. This is pretty cool, you know, because a) I get a day off, b) It is a paid leave day and c) I am allowed to go shopping. Reason c) would actually be every girl’s dream, right? Just not really this girl’s.
I actually hate shopping (with “shopping” I mean clothes shopping, because I LOVE grocery shopping as well as shopping for the flat – especially kitchenware.) But in my eyes, there is nothing worse than being in those changing rooms, having to dress, undress, go look for a different size and repeat the whole process again. Clothes shopping was always a traumatic experience for my mum and me, and our shopping trips usually ended tears and arguments. That is why I tend to go shopping on my own, at my own pace, not upsetting anyone with my grumpy shopping mood and only then when I really need to (or more accurately when the poor state of my wardrobe’s content forces me to the shops), which happens about twice a year (but believe when I do go shopping I return home with an incredible amount of bags.)
A quick look in my drawers a few weeks back established though the dreaded time of the year had arrived: I needed new clothes, and as I had nothing better to do last Monday, I decided to go to the Braderie – the annual summer-sale street market in Luxembourg City. But frankly why on earth I decided to go shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year in the Grand Duchy’s capital, is in to some sorts beyond me, I mean I hate crowds, they scare me, I feel like I could suffocate. However, somewhere in my subconscious, I had this idea in my head that I might be able to get a good deal – I soon had to realise though that the stuff I really needed was not the stuff that was on sale. Great! What I needed were new towels to match my new bed sheets and some picture frames so I could make my chateau more homely with some nice photographs on the wall (yes it seems that I have turned into one of those people who now talk about “colour schemes”). What I found on sale were winter boots and children’s clothes….However the fact that I had a gift voucher for my favourite home and furniture store made the prospect of shopping in a claustrophobic setting way more bearable. To avoid the biggest rush of shoppers, I got up at a decent time in the morning and a had a clear list in mind of what I needed to buy – that strategy worked really well and within a couple of hours I was on my way back home with these “babies” :
However, no trip to the Braderie is complete without the compulsory “Letzebuerger Grillwurscht” (a Luxembourgish hotdog) so I headed back out for my sausage with mustard, followed by desert of pasteis de nata – a Portuguese egg custard pastry – which was really nice, but not as nice as the ones baked by Mr Guitar-Heartthrob. J
So, all in all, I have to admit that my shopping trip was actually a really pleasant one.
And now the more important things in life: ICE-CREAM.
The two flavours I tried on Wednesday were Kiwi
and
Tobletto ice-cream, which MFC described to me as a frozen chocolate moelleux (chocolate cake with a liquid centre) melting on your tongue. So my expectations had been built up really high, only to be crushed and remain unfulfilled – the scoop just tasted purely artificial. Sorry MFC J, however your company was worth a lot more than a flavour related to my ice-cream resolution (and thanks for all your professional help this week, my dear).
What worries me a bit though is the fact that I seem to be losing my taste for ice-cream as well, bad enough that I do not seem to like chocolate that much anymore (unless it is rice-cakes with a dark chocolate coating), but not liking sorbets and or other chocolate and nut flavoured ice-creams (last week I had a walnut ice-cream and was not keen on that), just makes me sad. I keep wondering whether chemo might have had a long-term impact on my taste buds. Maybe on Friday, for my last new flavour, I should keep to another yoghurt flavoured ice-cream as I liked the one with the peach swirl I had on Tuesday.
But as Allan Karlsson keeps saying, in the The hundred-year-old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared, “Things are what they are, and whatever will be will be”.
Warrior of the Pen 