Shop life

I haven't taken any photos of the shop since it opened. Today I thought how nice it is looking (all my daughter's work, not mine) so fished the camera out from the crumbs at the bottom of my bag. The space isn't any bigger - damn these stone walls, they just don't grow - but we've got more into it and boast a small cool cabinet to house flavoured tofus, no-cheese cheese, sensitive probiotics, cool drinks and concentrated cherry juice for arthritics and gout sufferers (and people like me who just enjoy it on yoghourt.)

The flow of customers continues to be a daily source of information and amusement. Fortunately I don't have to do the hard work of ordering, restocking, book-keeping; I sit comfortably doing my crossword puzzles and catching up on the mayhem in the world. Sometimes I wish I had more free time but on the whole I think it's good for me because I would probably hide away at home and never see anyone. Today I learned, not from the newspaper, that there is a plague of bedbugs sweeping the USA, biting people in even the most costly hotels, the tasteless cads, (hope you've avoided them Glen!) A customer about to travel Stateside came in for clove oil which she has been assured they hate. I wished her a bite-free visit.

A pretty Japanese woman  (they all look so ridiculously small and young but she has a 12 year old daughter and is a qualified vet) told me that vets in Japan use homeopathy and flower essences to treat their patients. She is here on a sort of working holiday so had just spent a week on a pig farm in England (what fun!) where she had been unable to convince the farmers to try alternative remedies on their porkers. I assured her she would have no better success in this part of the world but she's about to do a FF Experience Week so doesn't have to face that particular challenge.

Then the bandy-legged satyr with no front teeth came in for his Horny Goats Weed. I haven't dared ask him yet if it's working - he would probably tell me.