shewhomust | Shopping and high water

The river's in spate in town this morning, and so's the conversation. All the shopkeepers ask if it's still raining outside, and everyone wants to tell you where the river is highest, and where they think it will burst its banks (or where it already has).

We were chatting to the lady in the gemstone shop. I was looking for a birthday present for a friend (and found some pretty Celtic earrings, thank you, but not before I'd been snared by a silver brooch for myself) and while I browsed, she told us about where she lives, up the dale, and how high the beck is running at the bottom of the garden. We talked about jewellery, and minerals, and where they are found - but the best story, I think, was about the dinosaur footprint she had obtained by special request, for a client, and put in the window - where a local academic had seen it and come charging into the shop: "Where did you get that?" She explained that it was from a major (and entirely reputable) dealer. "Oh, yes, of course - but you see, I found that footprint when I was at Cardiff thirty-odd years ago! Wait, I'll go and get you copies of the papers I wrote about it!" After which, of course, she had to explain to the original client that, sorry, it wasn't for sale after all, she'd find him another footprint. (It turned out that her supplier had bought the footprint from Cambridge, who were having a clear out).

That's what I call a successful morning's shopping - something I'm very aware of at present, as we've lost out town-centre supermarket, and I'm having to revise my shopping habits.