kareina

Yesterday, about 5pm, as my co-workers were heading home for the day, I suddenly felt like I needed a break from working, and had a strange impulse to go be totally frivolous and spend money I really can't afford to be spending. I also felt like eating more food, never mind that I'd already has as much to eat over the course of the day as I normally do. So I suggested to clovis_t that he put down his computer and we walk into town and see if there was a caffè or something open, so I could indulge the odd impulses to spend and eat more than usual in one fell swoop (restaurants don't open that early in Italy, and that would have been more food and more money than I wanted, despite feeling impulsive). He agreed, and we set off, walking first north to one of the main shopping roads, and then east into the city center. As we reached the shopping area north of my neighbourhood we saw a store devoted to clothing made from natural fibres. Since I'm a total fibre snob, and was in one of those rare "shopping" moods, in we went. He was appalled at the prices. I didn't bother looking at them--I knew that they'd be dear, but just tried a few things on. Nothing I tried on got better than a slight sneer out of him, and while the fabrics were nice, the styles were not quite what I'd have them be were I actually going to purchase (other than one item where I like the cut but the colour was unacceptable), so on we went. Or next stop was a toy/game store, where we considered but did not purchase an Italian-language version of the Munchkin game, and I was amused to note that in the kid's book Prosciutto o Uovo Verdi (Green Eggs and Ham)the main character's name was changed from "Sam I am" to "detto Ferdi" to maintain a rhyme with one of the food words. And more amused to note that I'd never before *noticed* that "Sam I am" rhymes with "ham". Ok, so it has been many decades since I've read the English version of that story--back in those days rhyme was something that may have made the story easier to read aloud, but I didn't pay any attention to it.

From the toy store we wandered on towards town and soon saw a store called "house of cashmere". Having enjoyed looking at the cotton, wool, and hemp fibres at the hippy-clothing store, I decided to go have a look at some nice wool. When we entered I remembered to say "Buona sera" (I've been told that failing to offer a greeting when entering a shop in Italy is considered rude (and something that only Americans would do)), to which the reply was (in English) "May I help you?". I said that I was only looking, and proceeded to look at the many shelves of neatly folded stacks of wool, reaching out to touch a bit of fabric, and commented to clovis_t how nice it felt. At this point the saleslady suggested that they had quite a variety of styles available--t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, v-neck, round neck, with and without buttons. On a whim I suggested that I'd like to look at something in dark blue or black, long sleeved, with buttons, and she quickly went to the correct shelves and brought out several for me to try on. The first one was too loose, the second a good fit, but too short in the waist, but the third was decadently soft, long enough and a perfect fit. At which point she suggested that this particular style comes as a set, one t-shirt, one button up long sleeved version together for 190, or 120 for only one of them. Then she punched some buttons on a calculator and suggested that she could go as low as 175 for the pair of them. Remember the part about feeling like spending money recklessly? I also remembered a nice wool sweater I'd purchased years ago in Ireland which I adored, but which failed to follow me home from the airport once. Even though it had been getting old and worn out, I was still very sad to have lost it, and have been thinking of replacing it with something as nice for a while now. clovis_t, he who merely sneered at the clothes in the other place, commented about this sweater that it "looks quite nice". So, on a lark, I decided to purchase it. I got out my wallet and asked the lady "how much was that? 170?", to which she paused a moment, and said, ok, that is fine". When she saw my bank card she explained that at the end of the month the bank would give me an additional 10% back, because the business has a special arrangement with the bank. I'm not certain I understand, but if that happens it will be nice.
Wearing my new soft, lovely, beautifully blue, warm layers we continued on our stroll into the city. As we neared the Duomo (cathedral) area we started to see caffès with menus out front. The first few we looked at were uninspiring, but after we passed the Duomo we came upon another which had a few more items to both of our tastes. As we looked at the menu a waiter came up to us and asked us (in English) if we'd like a table. Looking at the risottos on the menu I told him about my "allergy" to wine and vinegar, and asked if their risotto recipie contained either of those ingredients (as so many do). He went in to ask and soon returned with the news that their recipie was safe for me to eat. So we got a table. He started to show us to one of the outside tables, but that is the smoking area, so I asked if he had something in a smoke-free area, and he led us up a cute spiral stair-case (I love spiral stair cases!) to a little inside dining room, with lovely crystal chandlers and real table cloths (unlike the outside area, which was crowded with smokers and had plastic table clothes). I choose the risotto con asparagi and he had the lasagne with a hot-chocolate. The waiter asked if he wanted cream on the chocolate, and he started to say "no", but I suggested that he did want it (since I'd happily help eat the cream--I may not like chocolate, but I adore cream). The cream was added on in amazingly generous proportions--the stack was twice as high as the chocolate itself. It was, alas, sweetened, but only lightly so, so I was still able to enjoy it (no, I didn't eat all of that cream myself, he helped me with it, and seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Looking at his beverage, it appears that Italians like their hot chocolate the same way they like their coffee--seriously concentrated and in small volumes at a time. He seemed to really like it that way. Being a light meal for two at a caffè it was cheaper than a restaurant would have been, but at 33 Euros was also more than three times what I normally spend a day for food for one of us. But since my goal was to go be frivolous with my money, I couldn't complain, and I very much enjoyed the evening. We left the house a bit after 17:00, and returned home a bit after 21:00, having had a nice walk, some minor adventures, and goals achieved. Then we did yoga early and went to sleep before 22:30. I didn't wake up till after 09:00, so, for the first time in weeks, I'm actually caught up on my sleep! Today I've re-arranged some of the values I'd set aside to various "savings goals" to cover yesterday's spending spree, and then spent most of the day reading fiction published in the live journals of my friends. But there are a few hours left before it is time to head to the "un birthday party" a friend is hosting, so perhaps I'll manage to either finish my Italian homework or do some uni work (or both!) before heading out this evening.