Alison in Mall land

A little like Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole and it went down, and down and down, I found myself feeling a little disorientated as the malls here go on and on and on. I wondered where it would all end and whether there might be a potion somewhere that when you drank it made you a thousand times richer.
Seriously you go in the front,side or back door and then a long time later if you are very lucky and very good at navigation you will find the way out. I have never in my life walked into one shop of many shops and seen so much of everything. Everyhwere
It's like walking into Debenhams or John Lewis and the entire floor is all one thing, like bags, shoes. And no matter how long you walk for there seems to be no end of it all. The you walk out and there's another one. I didn't realise just how many brands of shoes there are, Kickers, Keds, Van, Converse, Hush, and on and on.
At first it seemed like shopper heaven but actually I find it all overwhelming. There's so much choice that I almost can't make a decision.
I just can't begin to imagine where all that stuff would fit in the world. It also made me stop and think about how much of the world's resources was being used to produce such an over abundance. I think that if all production stopped it would still be several years before all the goods were used up.
Still Manila is very large and busy and it is a wonderful opportunity to be here. I might just be better off leaving the purse behind.

Sunday fun

We have had a busy Sunday. Family service today at church which is always lots of fun, with a mix of lively, uplifting songs and puppets to engage the children. Then we decided to head off and browse around Spotlight today instead of tomorrow as the two teenage girls have been nabbed to work. It's wonderful to see them spending their own money as it happens so rarely. My two firmly believe that they are meant to hold on to their money or only spend it on really really expensive luxuries while I continue to count every penny in order to meet their entertainment needs. We have exchanged full and frank views on this topic, but they are teenagers so progress is slow.
After much considering and touching and drooling and a bit of rapid calculating we decided on a couple of cotton and wool blends to knit the designs from the magazine knit 1 at $4 a ball. The photo doesn't really do them justice, they are a pale sage and a taupe both on the greenish brown spectrum.

They are neutral colours but should work well. The best bit was that when we checked the price we found they were only $2 for VIP customers, which of course we all are. So an even bigger bargain than originally anticipated, and we successfully resisted the temptation to then go back and get some more. However on my way out of the shop these caught my eye and I was smitten. I hold my hand up to a totally implusive buy, but you have to agree they are pretty darn cute.


What could be better than eating cupcakes from these plates. Delicious.

Even the packaging was delightful, so pink and girly.



What's your best ever impluse purchase? Shoes? Yarn? Fabric?

Then we headed over the Harbour Bridge for One tree Hill which actually doesn't have a tree any more, so should in all honesty be called no tree hill, to meet up with my best friend in NZ. She's a very clever accountant who can occasionally be a bit crafty. I give her lots of encouragement and share lots from my elephantine collection of patterns. The kids (5 girls) had fun playing on the Flying Fox and the push along train track, while we chatted away. It might be officially the first day of Winter here, but we were still able to wear just long sleeve t-shirts to stay warm, well until the sun went down anyway. And there's another day tomorrow which will be dedicated to planning this week's ranger meeting and lots of knitting.