Shopping in Larnaka

Some people like shopping. Others even talk about 'retail therapy' .. although it took me many years to realise they actually meant it, rather than (as seemed more likely to me) needing some kind of therapy after the pain of shopping.

I do like shopping online. I like bookshops too, particularly second-hand ones. And I don't mind walking to the local fruit shop or bakery, or even the small supermarket nearby, with a list, and an eye for possible extra bargains, and spending no more than five minutes in the shop.

Indeed, now we're only going to the supermarket about once a month, I don't even mind that.

But occasionally, when Richard isn't spending the day at King Malu, we think about things we need for the house, and then set out in the car for an hour or two of shopping. Inevitably I start with some enthusiasm, start to get pretty fed up after about an hour, and come home tired and headachey when we've finished.

Today was no exception.

What we went to do:

1) Look for some kind of sealant for around the bath
2) Look for something to discourage pigeons from roosting around the pipes near the roof
3) See if we could find out how much a new shower door might cost

I had a few other things in my mind, vaguely, if we had time or went near anywhere suitable:

4) Have a look for a few extra bedding plants, now the weather's less hot
5) Look for new trainers for both of us
6) Go to the Thrift Store to see if they have any centrifugal juice extractors

So.

We first went to NEK, an old-fashioned kind of DIY/hardware shop which Richard had been to regularly, but which I had never before visited. A nice place, no nasty fluorescent lights, various interesting bits and pieces.

We found the stuff to go around the bath, so that was good. I also spotted some of the multi-pin hanger things that seem to be necessary for our walls, since we have a couple of photos in frames which have been waiting for about six months to be hung up.


We found some chicken wire, after much searching, and Richard bought a metre of it.


We saw, very inexpensively, some of the little white sock things that we always need to go around the bases of our dining room chairs, to stop them screeching on the floor... but couldn't decide whether we needed 25mm or 22mm. So didn't buy any. (For the record, Richard was correct, and we should have bought the 22mm size).

Then we wondered where to look for shower doors. Ours were a bit old and manky when we moved here, with a crack that's become worse over the years, and now the other end has broken. It would be nice to replace them. We drove past a few shops that didn't look hopeful. I remembered a shop that sells baths near where we used to live, so we drove there... only to find it closed. Not closed down, just shut because it's the weekend.

So then we tried Andreou Bros, which is a rather bigger DIY shop with nasty lighting, so we didn't stay long. They did have a couple of shower curtains, but no doors of the kind we want.

As we were wondering where to go next - and my tolerance of shopping and driving was starting to get lower - Richard had a phone call from his optician. The varifocal sunglasses he'd ordered were ready. So we drove towards town, parked on a side street about half a kilometre away, and walked. It was rather too sunny for me, but we managed to stay in the shade for much of the walk.

So Richard collected the sunglasses. And then, because we were near a small shoe shop which I've found very helpful (and good value) in the past, we went there. Richard found some suitable trainers pretty quickly - the only ones left, according to the man in charge, and he could have them for 17 euros, although the new price is 35. We have to trust that this is so, but 17 euros isn't a bad price and they fit well and looked OK. No box, but that's not a problem:


However, there was nothing I liked in my size, although the guy tried to selll me various other shoes which I didn't like at all..

By then, I was feeling very tired indeed and had had more than enough of shopping. But we thought we'd just pop into the Thrift Store, in case they happened to have any centrifugal juice extractors.

As it happened, they did - but it was a huge, three litre one which would look ridiculous in our kitchen. So, although it looked almost new and was a very good price, we decided against it.

However, Richard spotted a Breville sandwich toaster, for nine euros. It looked in very good condition too, still with its box, and instructions. He very much likes toasted sandwiches, so we decided to buy it. If there's any problem we can return it on Monday.


We didn't use it at lunch-time, because my home-made bread is far too big for it:


- though of course we could cut them to size. This afternoon I popped around the corner to Orphanides Express and bought a loaf of ready-sliced bread that looked about the right size. We'll keep that in the freezer for Richard to have midnight toasties... or perhaps our evening meal on Sunday.

By the time we got home I was feeling exhausted, rather dehydrated and a bit headachey. We did, at least, succeed in the first two items on the list, and half of the fifth, and I suppose we succeeded in the sixth too since we did look for juice extractors, even though we didn't find a suitable one.

Bedding plants will just have to wait for another occasion.