My ex girlfriend, Jackie (yes, my long suffering girlfriend from EATING MY WORDS) came to stay last week and we had the best ever day doing the charity shops in Todmorden.
I found the above Vivienne Westwood handbag in the very first shop we entered and started hyperventilating at the discovery. With a little help from Facebook I consulted my fashionista friends to determine if it was real or fake. When it was deemed the genuine article I snapped it up at a tenner and congratulated myself heartily.
I do have another genuine Viv bag which I use for storing my pegs.
Ged-the-husband brought it back from one of his invite only events at the Manchester Westwood shop. I came very close to killing him. It’s not that I didn’t like the handbag but the idea of his spending silly money on that instead of a mini break/babysitter/crate of gin upset me more than words and throwing things could convey. I used it for a while, filled to the brim with all the crap that being a mother entails. It served as a visual reminder for Ged to never do anything so silly again. Then it fell apart.
Ged says he’s not surprised it wore out after only a couple of months as I wore him out at a similar rate. No in a rude way.
I said to Jackie “Ooh, isn’t it great shopping in charity shops? I hope we never get too rich to do this.” And then I thought about what I’d said. Is it wrong to shop in a charity shop if you can afford to shop at a real shop?
Part of me believes it is wrong and I justify my shopping by saying it leaves more spare cash to support my nurture group. But there are occasions where one has to refrain from grabbing at a bargain. I bought this Helly Hansen jacket for Joe (£3.49) because it’s just what he needed for riding his bike but also because there was no one else in the shop so I didn’t have any competition. Yes, it would have killed me to spend £70 on a jacket for him. I wouldn’t do it and he would always get either an Asda special or a charity/thrifty/jumble jacket. But if I thought there was someone else in the charity shop who needed it more than Joe I would happily step aside.
I do wonder if I’m being a bit two-faced though because if I hadn’t bought the Westwood bag I would have had a tenner more to spend on cereals for my nurture group so where does it end?
Anyhow, Jackie had an interview down the road and I thought I’d better feed her first.
“I know a great cafe with a deli across the road, you’ll love it.”
We skipped off to the The Bear and as we got to the top of the stairs Jackie asked, “Is it a vegetarian cafe, Gilly?”
“Yes, but the food’s amazing. Honest.”
“I’m sure it is but they may not be too pleased about your fur coat.”
I’d forgotten I was wearing it, honest. I do try to avoid doing so where I may cause offence.
“You could run around pretending to be the eponymous Bear and invite customers to chase you with bear bating sticks?” Maybe not.
I whipped it off, turned it inside out, rolled it into a ball and shoved it under the table. Phew!
The pictures and even the menu do not do justice to how that simple looking food tasted. That ‘yoghurt dip’ was nothing of the sort, it was Labneh and if you click on the link you’ll see how David Lebovitz makes it. If you’ve never tasted it you must, it’s everything wonderful that a yoghurt isn’t. If you look closely you’ll see it also has a sprinkling of sumac. We’re talking proper Middle Eastern influences here. Shout about it Bear cafe! Don’t hide your Labneh and Sumac under a bushel.
The delicious food with two posh ginger beers was £14. Only 4 quid more than a Viv Westwood handbag. But still the price of 20 packets of cereal for a breakfast club.
Are bears vegetarians?
