Here’s one of the best things about being married to another obsessive reader/writer: getting to share his favorite treats! Patrick’s birthday was this weekend, and as part of his birthday gift, he and I went back to Hay-on-Wye (“Town of Books”) for a decadent day of eating (there’s a great restaurant there with tons of delicious vegan options) and, most of all, bookstore-hopping.
It was, of course, Patrick’s birthday treat...but I was in total bliss. I found four books at different bookstores (there are over 30 bookstores in that one small town!), including one great 1930s research book at the Castle bookstore, which is - just like the name says - actually inside the crumbling old town castle.
Let’s just pause to appreciate that for a moment. A castle that’s also a bookshop? Why can’t we just live there????
(Well, it was kind of cold and drafty. But still...)
Today, alas, was far less blissful. We spent it in our own lovely small town, getting ready to go to London later this week. The good news is that - hooray! - I finally found some high-heeled party shoes that fit our budget. (Thank goodness Clarks was having a sale!) The bad news...well...
I hadn’t had a haircut since we moved to Wales four months ago, mostly because I didn’t know which salon to try, and it was just way too easy to let the whole thing slide, even as my hair got longer and shaggier every month. Today, though, I was determined to get a really good cut so I could look my best on Wednesday. So, I went to the salon that had been recommended to me at our bank (yes, really!), happily prepared to pay a high price to get a great cut...and came out having paid quite a high price indeed - but with a cut that looked not great at all.
Wahhhhh! I hate bad haircuts. I especially hate them when I’ve gotten them done for a specific event, and it’s too late to change...
Sigh. I’ve figured out that if I pull my hair back in a headband, it doesn’t look quite as bad. So I’ll be wearing a headband at the party Wednesday night to cover up my haircut (which is at least an improvement over my original idea of just wearing a bag over my head as a cover-up - it’s awfully hard to sip champagne through a bag)...but I definitely won’t be going back to that salon again.
If anyone has any haircut horror stories to share with me right now, I would feel much better!