Picture Perfect: CURVES

My curves are not crazy. Henri Matisse(1869-1954)

© Photo: Riihele. All rights reserved.

Everything is beautiful, all that matters is to be able to interpret. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

Art is a harmony parallel with nature. Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

This is my entry on the Picture Perfect CURVES.
Take ye great care. Rii 🙂

This is the side entrance into the modern part of the Cardo which is covered and full of the most fancy shops. My favourite place for shopping in Jerusalem, actually. It is the modernized part of the Cardo and a very nice place to shop indeed.

Difference in Retail Therapy …

On behalf of the female species I just want to say this:

The female of the species in every culture, in every corner of the globe has one hobby, one pastime that is normally very high on the agenda – the shopping. It is not so much of the actual getting of the goods, but to just to be able to look at everything available, to walk about with your friends and have a quality cup of coffee in a cafe with the right ambience. To be at your leisure is the most important factor in the whole equation. Huh? Sounds complicated, this feminine maths and the female logic to the uninitiated, does it? Aahh, tis plain as mud.

I have two daughters who are all grown-up these days, yet still when we get together, we like to go browsing in the stores in whichever country we will meet. It does not necessarily mean that we will buy that much as it is more to get a feel of the locale. It is a culture test of a kind as what is in the stores speaks volumes to the one that is so inclined.

The word ‘therapy’, in Retail Therapy, means in its original language, Greek,

therap-, –therapeutic[s], –therapeutically, –therapy, –therapies, –therapist

(Greek: heal, cure; treatment; service done to the sick, a waiting on).

So true. Retail therapy could be said to be a ‘service done to the whole business world and the world economics‘, for tis really mostly the females that keep the retailers on the High Street going. This link has the ‘scientific’ – read: rather on the dull side – explanations on the High Street. Neither do I think that even if the net domain is called High Street with tons of stores and goods online that it is equal to the real retail therapy experience! No way.

Now a question

“WHO ARE THESE CONSUMERS that keep the world’s markets going?”

The answer:

LADIES, naiset, DAMEN, femmes, WOMEN, frauen ….

It is a fact universally acknowledged that it is the women in every country who mostly do the shopping and so they are the consumers that these statistics are talking about and whose shopping habits they reflect!

We should be given a credit for doing such a noble thing to help the world economy in every country. I suggest the NP aka The Noble Prize* in The Retail Therapy for the best candidate searched with the right criteria et cetera. The NP in Retail Therapy could be a section of the NP in the Economics, for example.

I have been called Queen of Retail Therapy, but I will tell you that those days are long past & gone! Truly. Seriously, now, do mean it. No joking. Actually. Rii :))

PS.
I do vouch 100 per cent that she had a swell of a time every single second of those 3 hrs and 26 mins, because the RT is a cheer for her and not a chore like tis to him,  who is suffering every split-second of those 6 mins, as he dashed into the store & out!! Her money was better spent, I say.

* Nominations taken. 🙂

HUMOUR: Pickled Onions

Some while back Noizy had a photo of an Irish pub in Maine in his blog on 360 and the name of the establishment was:

The Pickled Onion!

My comment was this:

HEEEH!! lol

I think that the onion is not the only one that is getting pickled in that establishment!!

Tis for now, Rii

European Commission announced that the list of products and services to which Regional Indications apply will be updated on January 1st 2008. New items on the list will be Irish pubs (Ireland), saltibarsciai (Lithuania), Koksksu (Malta), Kiselo mljak (Bulgaria)

“Also the protection of the Geographical Indication of Irish pubs is an important step towards including cultural expressions in the GI Regime. Geographical Indications have proven themselves to be very effective in protecting products ranging from Cheese to Wine and Sausages. We hope to be equally effective in protection authentic European cultural expressions. Next year we hope to include such diverse cultural phenomena as the Sirtaki dances from Greece, Latvian folk stories known as Dainas and Finnish smoke saunas, known as Savusaunas.” (Jean-Claude Hulot, Chairman of the Committee for Regional Indications)

A geographical indication (such as “Roquefort”) testifies to the link between a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of a product, a service or a cultural expression and its geographical origin. There are approximately 700 GIs registered under the Regulation today.

http://www.eucgi.eu/?page=press&article=13467

CARTOON: SHOPPING

 

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Lovely new week Dear Friends!

Tis for now. Rii xx

Incidents & Such Like: EEJIT!

This is an Incident that happened many years ago in Ireland.

I have divided The Incidents into The Comical, The Dangerous and The Thinking About Them Ones. This one belongs to the first mentioned ones The Comical. The story is like this:

We have this Irish/American family as very good friends and we were used to spending a lot time with them while they lived in Ireland as well. She – the Lady of the Family – is and was one of the greatest RT-therapists of all-time and we did have such time-consuming sessions of the same female pursuit. My daughters were no problem to have tagging along as they are so into the RT- retail therapy themselves; the trickier ones were her three sons that failed to see, neither to understand the finer points of the said pastime. They had to be bribed to not to complain nor to sigh deeply every five minutes, never mind not to have fits and so on. That was always the hardest part of every shopping trip.

We were going to head one morning to a session and to make the experience smooth for all, we got the older boys to agree to be at their best behaviour but the last and also the toughest one to convince was always, Daniel, the youngest son of just a bit older than one year but who had such an amazing command of words for his age.

Daniel in his diapers, cherubic as always, was there leaning on the counter looking like a casual cowboy while drinking his morn bottle when we were going to put clothes on him, telling him at the same time that how great he was and what a brilliant time we were all going to have and did the marketing-the-idea-bit to him to the T; as we thought anyway.

Saying:

“If you are a really, really good boy in the shops, you will get to go for a ride in the Postman Pat Wagon in the shopping centre!”

Daniel thinks and ponders for a moment, takes off the bottle of his lips, still leaning casually and says:

“Postman Pat is a Flippin’ Eejit anyway!!!”

Am afraid we lost the plot at that stage for we started to laugh in hysterics and he won that round.

Anytime after that when we see the toy or the programme on TV, what Daniel said pops to our minds and makes us roar laughing once again.

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

* Eejit is Irish expression for Idiot.

Travelogue from Dublin:Shopping, Style & Culture

Today I would like to talk about style and shopping – yes, the one that is one of the best female pastimes that is known to man, as in, to humans. I used to be quite a retail-therapist at one time, but no longer.

Tis amazing that any which way one looks to in the nations that one sees these masses of the most sportily dressed but totally unfit populace of both men and women! I personally cannot stand the whole ‘gear’ and do not even own one single pair of sneakers or as they are called here in Ireland, runners or trainers, neither the other parts of the said ensemble. I have done all my life from my childhood varied sports so that I have the fitness without the flaunting gear. Anyway, the said outfit does not feel right on me and it is not in the least comfortable on in ma mind. Others are welcome to wear it as they see fit, pardon the pun.

This nauseous set of outer wear is all that is on the most of the population here as well. There were two or three of the crowds milling on the Grafton Street, the ‘in’ shopping street in Dublin, that did look very smart in their high heels, stylish suits and the handbags to match the other day. There were also a few men that looked so very smart in their ‘real clothes’. These two smartly chic ladies were in a shoe shop where my daughter bought herself a pair of the basketball shoes that are so hip n happening at the moment. The name of the store is good, I think, being called, Office. How handy to tell your significant other that one just goes to the ‘office’ – no need to mention anything about the retail aspect at all! ‘I’m just nipping down to the Office.’ Great. Normally, the ‘office’ is jokingly meant to be the local pub of one in here.

The oh-so-elegant ladies bought shoes, one of them a very, very fabulous pair of stylish black suede shoes for festive wear – I so totally approved of them just my style, too – and the other to my utter surprise got herself, so unlike the style she was wearing, a pair of black leather flats! I was thinking, ‘Darling, Where are you going to wear Those?!’ but held back. Things that one never gets an answer to, but is just left pondering, wondering…Always a killer.

My main former supplier of shoes in this country called, Carl Scarpa, is still going strong on the Grafton Street, in Dublin. The malls off the Grafton Street such as The St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre,The Royal Hibernian Way, and The Powerscourt Town House Centre are excellent to just pop in and to have a lookie or to do some selective shopping and a select cup of coffee, particularly in The Powerscourt Town House on the Suffolk Street. The flagship store in these shores is The Brown Thomas, also located on Grafton Street, where one can shop nigh anything and everything one possibly would desire to have and to hold. There are a couple of great coffee shops in the store as well where many a cup and pastries have been downed by us after a busy spree with friends.

Another great place to chill n sip coffee or any beverage of your choice is The Westbury Hotel off Grafton Street where one can sit in peace and ponder what is and what will be in the most elegant surroundings. It was there that we, as in the daughters and myself, used to wait for the traffic jams to clear before heading down to our home in county Wicklow himself as our chauffeur. It was also in the Westbury that I used to meet my friends who lived in other parts of Dublin, because it was the handiest for them and to me as well to have a lovely lunch or just a glass of wine and something to nibble taking our time as one was not rushed to get off the premises as one is in so many other places these days. There is at times live music as in a pianist and the ambience is tres tres jolie. If you are that way, do go in there and sit down in those most comfy sofas and get the Afternoon Tea or whatever you would fancy, and you will very quickly get the drift in what I’m saying about the place.

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

PS.
The picture is taken by me of the harpist in the concert in the Main House in Powerscourt where the concert was held in the Garden Room; so am all cultured, well-fed and well-shopped!!

My Style of Shopping!

This time the story is this: it was my birthday, so that means the Second of August, and my elder sister came along with me to do some shopping in the town called, the area (Tavastia in English) in question – is that is it is the most straight-laced place in all of Finland, as the Irish would say of a place that is rather uptight and serious. They are not known to be jolly-hearted, joke-cracking people in Finland, if you know what I mean.That reputation of the town did not stop me of ‘chancing me arm’ in trying out to get discounts and the like.

This is what happened:

I was collecting a few rolls of film which had been developed in a particular store which was our first port of call in the town and as we were stepping in, I said to my sister:

‘Do not say anything at all until we are outside the shop, please!’

To the shop assistant I said, who I had seen in our school but did not know as such, that:

‘Do you know that it is my birthday today and I really would like a present from you?’

‘Oh,’ he said laughing, ‘really?’

Then he knocked off a few quid off the cost of the films. I thanked him for the lovely present, of course.

We trotted on to the optician’s where a pair of new specs that had been ordered for me only needing to be collected, so again – the same thing about me birthday and the present

– again a present received in this shop as well.

Then third time lucky, my last store to go to was a shop that sold handbags and I was in need of a new one – stickler for style, may I say

– here again the same spiel with the same result, discount given and gratefully received by yours truly!

All this time my sister had kept silent but as we went out of the very last shop she said:

‘So this is the way to do the shopping?!

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

PS.
If one does not ask, one does not get, right?!!! I recommend the method, though I do not insist if the person says ‘no’ – but normally, I do get a very good discount!

Incidents & Such Like: Kaiser

I have been in Germany a few times and particularly when the Oktoberfest is on, which is an interesting event with some six million people attending it yearly; attending!! Sure. The right expression would be, perhaps, guzzling drinking their way through the entire range of the beers available. This incident did not happen at the Fest but in a store at the centre of Munich where there is a very novel idea which I have not seen the like of in any other country: an area for the gents to sit in a bar-like setting and have liquid refreshments served by a glamorous dolly-bird while their other halves spend their money undisturbed. So he is happy with the dolly and she is happy with all the shopping. This system beats the male following your every step and saying things like: ‘You don’t need that!’ She: ‘Of course, I need it. Otherwise I would not be shopping for it!!’, sure! The right expression would be, perhaps, guzzling drinking their way through the entire range of the beers available.

We – that is – himself and I were shopping in the men’s section of this large store and himself wants to get his stuff without my expertise, so I am sitting there on a seat looking what the other people are doing, when this man – the size of, let’s say: he would be a giant among the pygmies, with a very large frau come near to where I am right besides the full-length mirror.

He is trying on a vast selection of winter overcoats by the large mirror, turning this way, turning that way, looking very pleased with himself while the shop assistant and the frau look on with approval. They talk about the different styles and what would be the best for him to buy.

I say nothing at this stage but smile benevolently at their direction, as tis not my man and none of my biz what he buys or not buys.

Then he tries on this very dark, large and long overcoat with a kind of military style to it. Oh, he is ever so pleased with what he sees of his reflection in the mirror; doing positively ‘napoleonic’ gestures and looking so imperial.

He puts his arm inside the buttons at the front and does his kaiser-like pose stretching to his full height and the heels nearly clicking when, at this point, I say to him:

“Kaiser Wilhelm!”

He cracks up with a hearty laughter falling over nearly and sees it for himself, too. After a minute or two he begins to tell his frau and the sales assistant what I had said for they did not hear it.

The assistant is not that happy, I must say. His commission on that particular coat must have been substantial if he had managed to sell it, of course.

To this day I do not know for sure if the man bought this Kaiser Wilhelm-coat or not because himself came laden that very moment with his shopping and we moved off the spot.

So, anybody living in Munich, if you see a man walking around in an overcoat looking like the Kaiser Wilhelm, let me know. Please. It could be HIM.

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

PS.
It is always risky to say anything to anybody one does not know and I took a quickly calculated risk – hmm, about 2 secs – in saying to him what I did. Thank God, his sense of humour was brilliant and he did not get mad at me!

A Woman’s Work is Never Done ~ Retail Therapy

 

GO GIRL!! This very chic Chick doing the dishes and the clearing up is my Little Baby Girl, Heli. I say, one must dress up properly with one’s pearls, rings and fur to do even the most menial of tasks, as one must not let the standards ever to drop. Becki took the picture.

Isn’t it just hilarious to that these kind of posh washing-up gloves were made or even thought of?!! I like them. Well done, Heli. Keep it up.

A Woman’s Work is never done, we know that. I also wrote another piece on it in here . As far as the title of this entry is concerned, what better title than this to appeal to (m)any of the retail therapists among us? – The word ‘therapy’ means in its original language, Greek,

 

therap-, –therapeutic[s], –therapeutically, –therapy, –therapies, –therapist
(Greek: heal, cure; treatment; service done to the sick, a waiting on).

So true. Retail therapy could be said to be a ‘service done to the whole business world and the world economics‘, for tis really mostly the females that keep the retailers on the High Street going. This link has the ‘scientific’ – read: rather on the dull side – explanations on the High Street. Neither do I think that even if the net domain is called High Street with tons of stores and goods online that it is equal to the real retail therapy experience! No way

Becki, my older daughter, and I did some serious retail therapy a good while back on the Oxford Street in London which is one and a half a miles long. Actually, it claims to be the busiest shopping street in Europe. We went down one side and came back the other and got miles of useful exercise to boot. Handy. And men call women not -sporty – really, what do they know?!

To bolster up our energy levels we went into the Harrod’s where there is a fabulous fresh juice bar downstairs to get this most delicious freshly squeezed fruit juice we used to have each day to fortify us for the hard work of the therapy sessions. It was called, ‘The Shopper’s Pick -Me Up’ and it was a mixture of various fruit and vegetables such as the avocado, even with fresh parsley in it. Twas wonderfully refreshing and our perkiness restored we sauntered on to the Hamley’s down the road from Harrods to do all the 5 floors plus the ground and the basement floors as well from the top to the basement in one go!

Again, the step counter would have been going on the high-high counting all of them steps up and down the store adding up to zillions of ’em before we’d be finished! Miles of walking done even without thinking, that’s what I call, clever.

Thursday, May 04, 2006 (www.foxnews.com)

NEW YORK — Stocks climbed Thursday as strong April retail sales and a steep drop in oil prices alleviated investors’ worries about a greater-than-forecast jump in labor costs.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 38.58, or 0.34 percent, to 11,438.86, its best close since reaching 11,489.59 on Jan. 19, 2000. The Dow is 284 points, or 2.4 percent, from an all-time high of 11,722.98 from early January 2000.

The day’s headlines brightened the economic picture, with retailers reporting their best monthly sales in two years as consumers spent freely despite the recent spike in gasoline prices.

And there is more on these lines that the BBC is reporting on the retail sales in the UK where the situation in 2005 was not rosy.This link has The Financial Times on retail sales for the search I did on their site for the same. There are several very interesting topics on the subject in both the US and the UK. In this link here there are The Sky News take on the retail sales in the marketplace. Take your pick to read the one of your choice, please.

Now a question:

“WHO ARE THESE CONSUMERS that keep the world’s markets going?”

The answer:

LADIES, naiset, DAMEN, femmes, WOMEN, frauen ….

It is a fact universally acknowledged that it is the women in every country who mostly do the shopping and so they are the consumers that these statistics are talking about and whose shopping habits they reflect!

We should be given a credit for doing such a noble thing to help the world economy in every country. I suggest the NP aka The Noble Prize* in The Retail Therapy for the best candidate searched with the right criteria et cetera. The NP in Retail Therapy could be a section of the NP in the Economics, for example.

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

There is an excellent article on the Guardian Unlimited on the RT. Personally, it is not an addiction neither a binge but a hobby that I like.

* Nominations taken.