vilakins | What I did today, or, Jaffa Cakes for a JAFA

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What I did today, or, Jaffa Cakes for a JAFA

Thanks to trixieleitz who located a British shop near me, I have now eaten a Jaffa cake. And it was very nice too: intense and extra-orangey. YUM!

But first we went to the annual fair at a local church. We got:

a foot-spa (at last, a rhyme for chutzpah!) for only $5, not yet tested
almost all the Marcus Didius Falco novels by Lindsey Davis
two old Giles cartoon books
The Book of the Goons, so old it has pink and yellow 60s psychedelic lettering on the cover; it will go with my Goon Show scripts
an SF anthology published in 1970
two lamps consisting of giant blue light-bulbs, pictures below

Then because

trixieleitz had told me about The English Corner Shop (which isn't on one), we went there and bought Jaffa cakes, chocolate digestives, rich tea biscuits, crisps (pickled onion and worcester sauce flavours), Caramacs, and various sweets that appeal to Greg but not me.

There seemed to be a festival in Onehunga, so we stopped on the way back to see what was going on. It was Onehunga Heritage Weekend (who knew?) and I took some photos, then we went to the Hard To Find second-hand bookshop there. This is an old house full of stairs and little rooms, all packed with books. I really need to make up a list of authors I want before I go back, especially to the SF room.

Photos: band, big horses, bookshop, bizarre blue lamp

Band playing on a street corner in Onehunga

Clydesdales (I think) providing wagon rides through up and down the street

And again, since I know some of you love horses. Their studded black tack is rather Avonic now I come to think of it.

Note the antique fabric place selling feather boas!

Man with books - one of the statues in the Hard To Find bookshop

Morris dancer (I think) in the bookshop. This is by the entrance; the rooms upstairs are stacked to the ceiling with books, and there's a ladder to allow you to get at the top shelves.

One of the blue lamps beside my glowy planet (made of Himalayan salt). The stall-holder was amazed I wanted to buy anything so ugly ($15 the pair) but I thought they showed form matching function and were a very nice rich blue. Yes, you can also see a Bender robot, a motorcycle made of wire, a Spitfire, and assorted cats.

Planet glowing (it actually has markings rather like a gas giant) and the lamp on, a lot paler than I'd expected.

And now I'm off to bed.

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I'm so glad the Jaffa cakes weren't a disappointment!

a foot-spa (at last, a rhyme for chutzpah!)

LOL!

Greg likes them too! Chocolate and orange are great tastes together; I also love Green & Black's Maya Gold.

Nice photos of stuff.

Replying to your question on another post, an airtight tin should be ok. They just don't keep as long as biscuits even though that's how you eat them. Glad you like them.

I've resealed the (orange!) package with a clamp and put it in an airtight container. It has to last all week since Greg's away for five days and I'll only be having one after dinner.

Great lamps - both the planet and the blue one!
I love horses, yes, these are lovely!
Well, we have one Falco novel in our library but noe it is out.

Thanks! The planet's on all day, softly glowing. It only takes a tiny 15W bulb.

Oooh, now I have Bookstore Lust.

That place is amazing, covering two floors and lots of little rooms and passageways and a mezzanine. I have to go back with a Plan. I should have taken a pic of the SF room: lined to the ceiling with books, books in the middle of the floor, and with two ancient chairs in case you just wanted to read. No Vernor Vinge though, and the library doesn't have any either. Why, why?

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astrogirl2.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 00:08 (UTC) - Expand

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vilakins.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 00:17 (UTC) - Expand

I'm fairly sure the horses are Percherons, but nice pics anyway. And that is a Morris dancer - Cotswold style Morris, I'd say (90% certain).

I like the look of the lamps, both the lightbulb and the gas giant. I like my lights to give out a good, bright light though, rather than mood lighting. I'm glad you've found the English corner shop and some nice new things for you both to try.

I like a nice bright light too; I'd never just use lamps for illumination. They're there to look nice or funky. :-)

The shop is great! There were quite a few people there too; they must do good business.

Sounds like you had an enjoyable day. Nice pics. I love the horses and those lamps are very interesting-looking.

I've had the planet for months; I'm not sure what to do with two blue lamps though. My friend said I had to take both as they're brother and sister. :-P I put the other one on a bookcase in front of my art books.

I'm glad you got to try some at last!

I love bookshops like that. There's one in Cambridge (at least, I hope it's still there), that opens off a little passage behind a church. There's another one in Christchurch. The closest example I know of here only spans one floor and two rooms.

Sounds like a grand day out!

Oh, you did have a nice day! And I love the horses. :^)

I like your planets! Also, mmmm, jaffa cakes. The best way to eat them is to eat the cakey bit at the bottom first until you're only left with a perfect disc of orange jelly, and then you suck that until it's perfectly smooth, and then you eat it.

mmmm, jaffa cakes. The best way to eat them is to eat the cakey bit at the bottom first until you're only left with a perfect disc of orange jelly, and then you suck that until it's perfectly smooth, and then you eat it.

So true *sigh* Now I'm wanting jaffas & I don't have any :-(

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vilakins.livejournal.com - 2008-09-20 21:54 (UTC) - Expand

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sorsha-khan.livejournal.com - 2008-09-20 23:48 (UTC) - Expand

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vilakins.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 00:00 (UTC) - Expand

Yay to jaffas! But beware, they are highly addictive...
Giles is second only to Thewell in cartooning (and even then, only just), so yay to that too.

But, but... you stopped long enough to take morris dancer pic! :-O Don't you know morris dancers are evil and will suck your soul? *doesn't have a problem with clowns, but runs in terror from morris dancers* lol

I remember my father having a whole collection of Giles books which I used to read with bemusement. I loved Granny and Chalky and the kids, but a lot of the very English stuff (boat shows etc) passed me by. I can still remember one where the kid with the Beatles hair put a dog in a street lamp to copy the Russians with their orbiting dogs. :-P

I think Morris Dancers are incredibly dorky! I've never seen them here before. I had to suppress the desire to ask if they did the bucket and stick dance (the one in 'Lords and Ladies' anyway).

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sorsha-khan.livejournal.com - 2008-09-20 23:52 (UTC) - Expand

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vilakins.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 00:16 (UTC) - Expand

1) JAFFA CAKES

and

2) BOOKS.

This is of the good. Now you need to develop a Jaffa Cake addiction and put some in your coat pocket.

I think any Jaffa cake addiction will be a subset of my general chocolate problem. :-P And they'd melt in my pocket! The chocolate coating did a bit on my hands last night when I brought them in with the tea.

I've heard of that bookshop before, but had no idea of its extent and eccentricity. I need to go back, but with a Plan.

Sounds like an excellent day. :) And those are very good pictures.

There used to be an excellent second-hand bookshop in the next town, but first it started selling new books as well and then about four years ago it closed down altogether. :(

What's the title of the SF anthology? I'm wopndering if it's one that I have.

This one isn't as cheap as a second-hand bookshop I used to go to years ago, which had a much smaller but very good SF room. Sadly the owner died and it closed down. This one is organised by author name and while I was there I completely blanked on names I wanted like Hal Clement.

The anthology is only small: The New SF: an original anthology of modern speculative fiction edited by Langdon Jones. I do have some others:
- Legend Book of Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois
- Perilous Planets - An Anthology of Way Back When Futures: An Anthology of Way-back-when Futures edited by Robert Sheckley
- New Dimensions Science Fiction 7 edited by Robert Silverberg
- plus some other short stories collections by Larry Niven and Cordwainer Smith

I usually get books second-hand or remaindered; it's too expensive here otherwise.

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jhall1.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 09:03 (UTC) - Expand

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jhall1.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 09:32 (UTC) - Expand

I really like the orange one. The blue one makes a nice set though, ahahahaha. Great deal too!

Bookstores are so lovely, always. XD We have one used one locally that's just lovely, though it's suffering with the economy these days, sigh.

The horses are pretty too. XD

I only wanted one blue one but bought both of them; the other one's on a bookshelf in front of my art books. The orange planet I got in Taupo during my summer holiday and it's on all day because it's so lovely; it only takes a 15W bulb and softly glows. It's meant to be good for health too, they say.

The bookshop is amazing: packed with books, random statues, grandfather clocks, and ancient reading chairs. It would do well here as NZers are great readers but use libraries and second-hand places because books are so expensive. I have to say though that it's more expensive than other places I've been to.

Jaffa cakes are awesome. I miss them.

You will have to make to with Travis's chocolate oranges! I'd post Jaffas to people but they'd rattle horribly and unnerve customs and postal workers and probably get blown up.

Have you checked whether there's a similar shop for ex-pats there? There might well be. This place (http://yourbritishconnection.com/) might be useful. They're resigning their website so the links don't work, but you could e-mail or call them. :-D

Love the book shop and the lamp is funky.
The horses do look like Clydesdales to me as the feathering doesn't look enough for a Shire horse.

I didn't even take a picture of the other rooms which are totally lined with books, and have books in the middle of the floor, plus random statues and reading chairs. Each room has a subject like history or SF.

Thanks; I thought the lamp was cool.

What a great day! Love the bookstore, of course, and the beautiful horses.

The bookstore is a maze lined with books. I need to go back with a Plan Of Attack.

The horses were beautiful, and their studded black tack rather Avonic now I come to think of it.

Jaffa cakes are wonderful - Sydney has a British shop in on of the arcades which does them (and Caramac, and jelly cubes) and I make a beeline for it every time we're there...

Mind you, I sort of froze at the list of books you for at the fair, struck dumb with sheer lust... and that was before I got to the book shop piccies!!!

I'm sure you have a lot more books than I have, and stranger ones too!

You like Caramac too? :-)

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sallymn.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 10:10 (UTC) - Expand

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vilakins.livejournal.com - 2008-09-21 21:34 (UTC) - Expand

It looks like you had a nice time! :) There used to be a 'Hard to Find' bookshop in K Road, but it closed last year. :(

I only knew about the one in Onehunga.

Can you explain about foot spas?
Borrowed Kitty's Special Human has moved into over-60s accommodation that has no bath, just a wet-room, not even a shower "tray", so she can't soak her feet.
Does the spa have heating as well as movement, and is that very expensive to run?
If it hasn't, how do you keep the heat unless you've got a lurking handmaid (me, for example, and I can't be there all the time) to bring more hot water?

I think you'd have to inquire about models available there. This one, a Breville, vibrates my feet and has little bumps on the bottom to massage, and will keep the water warm. I don't have a manual but it has these settings: off, warmth spa, warmth massage, warmth massage spa. It's similar to the ones I've come across in beauty salons.

I see Amazon sells them (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-6613871-5099939?url=search-alias%3Ddrugstore&field-keywords=%22foot+spa%22&x=0&y=0). The Beautyworks, HoMedics, and Scholl Rechargeable all keep the water warm. :-)

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richenda.livejournal.com - 2008-09-23 06:55 (UTC) - Expand

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