I Love China

During last week’s 7 day break, I stumbled upon 3 very small bespoke shoe shops along Nan Yang road, behind Plaza 66. It was a bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The first store was awful, it felt like I’d walked uninvited into a Shanghainese family home. There was a middle aged woman chatting with her friends, basically ignoring me completely, and the shoes all looked very dull and lacking in any style at all. There are lots of stores like this in Shanghai. I think these people open stores not to sell anything, but just so they have a place to invite friends to come over for tea, a chat and some pumpkin seeds. I left quickly before anyone even asked if they could help me.

The second was better. There was a younger, far more attractive girl, attentive and helpful. However, as with the first shop, the shoes just didn’t look right – the colours had no shine and no punch to them, just very dull and lifeless. The book of swatches was badly laid out and they were all different sizes and shapes, some had bits cut out of them like a Hannibal Lecter victim.

My new babies – this is the style I chose for my first pair of made to measure shoes.

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Those of you outside China may not realise we’ve been on a 7 day break to celebrate the National Day Holiday. I actually took an extra day, so it’s been 8 solid days off for me. What did I do during these 8 days you may wonder. Well, the plan was to have no plans at all. To just wake up and do what the hell I feel like is a rare luxury for me, so that’s exactly what I planned to do for 8 days. I’ll confess, there were several days I did absolutely nothing and it was pure heaven. But I also got lots of minor chores done that can’t be done during a normal working week, and here’s a summary of things I’ve achieved this week:

1. Went to IKEA to buy some much needed bed linen. My existing bed linen is well overdue for the rubbish bin. Going to IKEA was as stressful as it is anywhere in the world, but the upside is I (and from time to time, a companion of my choice) get to roll around in brand new sheets and quilt covers.

2. I got a much needed haircut on the last day of the holiday. It’s not that I dislike long hair, but it just looks awful on me.

3. Visited the newly opened Marks and Spencer (THREE TIMES) mostly for food and wine, but also picked up a birthday card for my brother Rich so if you’re reading this, just pretend you haven’t read this part.

4. Repaired the heels on my Tods loafers. They’re only 5 months old but the heels have completely worn out already.

5. Bought some new shoes, more of which will be written on this week’s Fashion Friday.

6. Cut, or rather, trim, Tommy’s extremely long claws (he kept getting his paws stuck on the upholstery, which is bad for him and bad for my furniture.

It’s not been a total success though. There are a few things I still never got round to doing, including a day trip to one of the nearby ancient towns (Zhou Zhunag or Xi Tang for example), take some photographs, give Tommy a long overdue bath.

All in all though, it’s been a great week. Some people say if you didn’t have to work, you’d be bored. I have said it before and I’ll say it again – not me!

PS – I can’t think of a category for this post, so suggestions are welcome for a new category to be added. Something like “WoAi’s mundane ramblings” I reckon.

One carton of Marlboro Lights in Shanghai Pudong airport duty free: 93 RMB (6.90 pounds). Same carton at London Heathrow Terminal 4 duty free: 26 pounds (350 rmb). Hmmmm ….. I Love China!