Welcome

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Becca and Angie to the followers list. It is lovely to think others think my life is interesting enough to vist from time to time.

I have just gotten back from my flying visit to Melbourne and my friend at Castle Cleugh. Their new home is gorgeous and in a great location just near the beach in Beaumaris. We had fun doing a little shopping ( I bought a few new clothes and some things for the kids) But of course now I am at home I am thinking I should have bought that and that - oh well I will just have to go back again.

One of the things that really struck me about Melbourne is the local strip shopping, we went to Mentone and the Concourse and few others just in the course of the driving me around and getting me aquainted with where things were. I love the idea of being able to go to the butcher, the bakery, the coffee shop, the fruiterer, a clothes shop etc etc without having to inhabit one of those ghastly shopping centres (malls) there is something decidedly quaint about being able to grab a basket and wander around and shop.

I take it for granted in a lot ways becasue we live in a village outside of Brisbane and this is how we shop every day, but it struck me that in Brisbane generally this type of shopping experience has largely disappeared except for a few precincts like West End, Redcliffe, Sandgate and some of the trendy areas like Bulimba and to a lesser extent Wilston.

It is a shame if we could all shop more locally we would walk more, get to know our retailers more, support smaller businesses with more sutainable business ethics and then we would be moving steadily towards the type of world I think we all crave.

I enjoyed my Saturday morning at the shops so much I didn't even think to be miserable about how cold it was !!!! (actually it was a lovely 9 degrees celcius but as the morning wore on the "snow" clouds came over the sky and it got chillier) but there I was breathing fresh air and not recycled air conditioning air, hugging my bags of produce and thoroughly enjoying every moment of being outside.

So if there is a tired little set of shops near you where you can pick up the bread and milk, the paper, chat about local events as you wait for coffee or find a dusty bargain on a back self then do yourself and the planet a favour and go explore. Certainly the internet may be making the whole world a village but nothing beats interacting with actual people and seeing their smiles, and the knowledge that your purchase may just keep them open a little longer or draw in another retailer to help revitalise our local precincts.

Have a wonderful Monday where ever you are - and take a walk to the shops!! (even if like me you have to drive there first)

daisymum