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. 🙂

Knitting or Stitch ‘n Bitch

“Those of you who feel knitting has changed your life, welcome to the club. I can think of no better occupation to reveal your own creativity.”

Kaffe Fassett

Wikipedia defines knitting as “a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth. Knitting consists of loops called stitches pulled through each other. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can be passed through them.”

We had to learn knitting at schools in Finland from very early ages it being compulsory; I do have to admit that my ’products’ at that time were the most sorry sights ever! Really. What I managed to produce after much sweat ’n toil was one mitten, one sock instead of pairs of the same as required, a whirly-twirly scarf that looked like waves, and so on; you get the picture, for I absolutely disliked handicrafts then. That we had a sour teacher on the subject who did not like me, did not help either, it must be said.

Then years later I moved to Sweden where the girls were very partial to knitting and sewing — surprise, surprise!! as the reputation of the Swedish females would bring to one’s mind something totally different interests, eh?! — I learned to love the knitting, sewing et al. And from then on I have been doing my own patterns and whatnot, I absolutely love knitting nowadays.

Ireland, had I in my mind’s eye painted as, THE land of great yarns with the numbers of sheep the land has grazing in the fields, but when I reached the shores of the Emerald Isle, the selection was minuscule and pitiful to the ultimate as far as a variety of yarn was concerned. Sure, the meat of the mutton et al was and is ab fab over there, but as I said…The Irish, of course, are spectacularly gifted at spinning the verbal yarn, that is well-known world over.

It is funny as in ha-ha! to see that when the males want to ‘beat’ the women in females’ own games aka in cooking, etc., and even knitting — even though, Ezer Weizman said this: ‘Honey, have you ever seen a man knitting socks? ’ — they quickly become super celebrities as is Kaffe Fassett. What a brilliant name for kaffe in Swedish means coffee, by the way, and the beverage of choice in knitting sessions many a time. Here is what I found about KF on the net:

”Kaffe Fassett is known as the U.K’s King of Colour and Design – for interior and garden decoration, needlepoint, knitting and mosaic designs; also for his award-winning 1998 Chelsea Flower Show garden. Now he is designing sets and costumes for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His books include magnificent examples of tapestry, knitwear, painting, patchwork, fabrics and the latest mosaics, but the emphasis has to be on his original and daring use of colour.
Born in San Francisco, Kaffe Fassett’s earliest influences were the beauty and colour of his mother’s garden. In 1964 he moved to England and gardens are still what he loves most.” (Radio National Australia)

Great chefs carry their sets of knives, able artists carry their brush sets, and serious knitters have their knitting needle cases!

Stitch ‘n Bitch is a brilliant book of 258 pages on all things as per title; seriously, it seems like a handy guide to everybody who wants to have a fun and comprehensive reference on this grand pastime.

This is an absolutely hysterically funny video about knitting made by sharp-witted Finns:

”No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love.”
Edvard Munch

Tis for now, Rii — who finds that knitting eases the frazzled nerves very much indeed!!

Fabulously in-vogue pages of knitting et al on Vogue online:
http://www.vogueknitting.com/vkm/?q=node/79
http://www.vogueknitting.com/vkm/

Victoria and Albert Museum great links:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/index.html

Other handy links:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/learn-to-knit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knitting

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!!

The OASIS of EIN BOKEK

”The Dead Sea has a climate which boasts year-round sunny skies and dry air with low pollution. It has less than 50mm mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 degrees Celsius.The winter average temperature is between 20 and 23 degrees Celsius. The region has weakened UV radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays), and an atmosphere characterized by a high oxygen content due to the high barometric pressure. The shore is the lowest dry place in the world. (Wikipedia)Photo: Mountain, Palms & Hotel in Ein Bokek

The Dead Sea measures 67 km (42 miles) long, 18 km (11 miles) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley. The main tributary is the Jordan River.The Dead Sea has attracted interest and visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was a place of refuge for King David, one of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of products as diverse as balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.Photo: Ein Gedi

”Although the medicinal indications of the water have not yet been adequately researched, this therapeutic resource is a great attraction, which gives the area advantages over other such places in Israel and the world. In addition to the medical properties of the water, the climate and atmosphere of the region have a therapeutic value of their own.The high atmospheric pressure, the highest in fact on earth, results in the highest oxygen content on earth and low ultra-violet radiation. This permits prolonged sun bathing without danger of burning on almost every day of the year.The absence of polluting contaminants makes for pure air, which eases bronchitis and bronchial conditions. On the other hand, the combination of low humidity and high evaporation contributes to accelerating the body’s metabolic processes. These climatic properties have a considerable effect on the non-specific treatment of certain diseases based on stimulation of cells and tissues while acting against unhealthy internal and external stimuli.” WikipediaPhoto: The Swimming Pool

King David, King Herod, Jesus, and John the Baptist stayed in the Dead Sea area. The prophets knew it via the infamous Sodom and Gomorra.During the Egyptian era it is said that Queen Cleopatra obtained exclusive rights to build cosmetic and pharmaceutical the area. Later on, the wily Nabateans discovered the value of bitumen extracted from the Dead Sea and needed by the Egyptians for embalming their mummies. Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. Photo: The Dead Sea is really this colour

Article: ‘The Race is on to save the Dead Sea’ on The Sunday Times September 3, 2006“…proposal is to carry sea water from the Gulf of Aqaba to replenish the Dead Sea, which has shrunk by a third over the past 50 years and faces total evaporation. At stake is the area’s delicate ecology and a tourist industry — that draws 100,000 Britons each year — centred on the sea’s mineral-rich waters and mud.A sequence of canals and pipelines would channel sea water down through the arid Arava valley in southern Israel and Jordan to the salt lake at the lowest point on earth, 415 metres below sea level. Action is urgently needed. Over the past 50 years the Dead Sea’s depth has fallen by 20 metres. The so-called “Red to Dead” plan is to reverse this fall, which has been so dramatic that it has left the Israeli spa resort of Ein Gedi a mile from the water’s edge.Photo:The Courtyard at the hotel

“However, Friends of the Earth warned that mixing water from the Red Sea with the unique chemical soup of the Dead Sea could create a natural catastrophe. “The Dead Sea’s mix of bromide, potash, magnesium and salt is like no other body of water on the planet,” said Bromberg. “By bringing in the marine water, this composition will be changed.There is concern about algae growth and we could see the sea change from deep blue to red and brown and the different waters could separate.” Photo: Palms in Ein Bokek (iNFO: Wikepedia) Photos: Riihele TIS FOR NOW. Rii xx HAVE A SUPER WEEKEND! © Photos: By Riihele. All rights reserved.

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!

The Dead Sea Spa – Nothing Like The Mud

“Mud! Mud! Glorious mud! Nothing quite like it
for cooling the blood. So, follow me,
follow, down to the hollow,
And there let us wallow in glorious mud.”

The Hippopotamus Song
Words by Michael Flanders
Music by Donald Swann and Michael Flanders

When I filled years a couple of years ago, I decided to follow The Hippo down to the hollow ,ie. to the Dead Sea. No better place for wollowing: relaxing, treatments and chilling. I gave meself a present of a holiday by going to a spa for a week at the Dead Sea in Israel. I was in this hotel in Ein Bokek which lies in the southern end of the Dead Sea. Here are some fun facts & history of the region. And a great link is in here for the absolutely gorgeous photographs of the area. (Press the: Photo Gallery link and – voila!

“The uniqueness of the Dead Sea has been known for centuries. This is the only place in the world with this particular combination of exclusive spa benefits: peculiar sun radiation and climatic conditions, enriched oxygen atmosphere, mineral-rich salt sea, thermomineral springs, and mineral-rich mud.” (Dead Sea Guide)

As far as the treatments were concerned during my seven-day stay there I had :

• 4 full body hot mud treatments
• 4 full body hot oil treatments
• 2 facials
• 2 pedicures
• 2 manicures
• 2 full body goarse salt treatments
• et cetera

You understand by that shortened list that I did feel very much like the Cleopatra and Queen Esther by the end of the pampering! Absolutely, so true, I did indeed. Here is a modern twist of the lessons to be learned by the Queen Esther story. I have the book, by the way. I came back to Jerusalem so very much rejuvenated, refreshed and beautified that my friends hardly recognized me! I went back to the same hotel with my daughters a few months later to have some more of these fabulous treatments. It is nigh impossible to get me Misses up in the morns, but while on the spa holiday here the surprise to me was that they would announce at 8 o’clock in the morning: “Oh, I must dash for my mud treatment!” And off they went, leaving their mama stunned, thinking, if it only had been as easy to get them off to school each morning.

Tis for now yet again. Riihele xx.

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.