A Sweet Weekend.

A couple of days ago, i bought a plant, here it is. I am not sure if it will survive for long in my care, but I thought it was very sweet. It's a Hoya, or a Good-Luck Heart (really, why?) Plant as it says on the label.

The zip on my trusty boots broke on Friday, they have seen me through a couple of winters, so I was understandably grumpy as I didn't own other suitable shoes to cope with this slushy muck that we are currently dealing with. My lovely husband has had a "day off" today, and has spent the day skiing in Sweden. It meant that he very graciously offered to have the children yesterday, so I could go shopping to replace them. I hate shopping. I hate shopping even more in strange surroundings. I had my shops all marked out where we lived in London so I could bypass all the others I didn't like on the rare occasions I went shopping... However, surprisingly I found that I am actually beginning to find my way around here! I recognise streets and shops and everything - almost! It could possibly be because Copenhagen is so small, but I only actually got lost once, and that was because I came out of the wrong door of Illums!. It was the first shop I headed for in my quest for these particular boots and there I found 50% off this particular brand in a promotion that day! Being in a country where the women are tall and beautiful and big feet seem to be the part of the deal, I managed to get a pair in my size straight away, not like in the UK, where my shopping despair is probably caused by the usual "sorry, we don't have any more in that size" I get at home (I do not by the way have abnormally large feet, in fact I have the most average size feet in the UK, which makes you think they might order a few more in, but no!).

After this I stumbled across a secondhand book sale in a pretty church, with a table full of English books. With book prices in DK, I made sure I got a couple, your average Penguin Classic is around £17 here!

Before returning home again, I decided to make the most of my moments of "freedom" (the very fact that my entire shopping trip had thus far taken only 40 minutes meant I wasn't going home yet!) and head for a coffee shop. In London, I survived on coffee, but then I had to give up caffeine for "health reasons", which is probably just as well, as I couldn't afford a daily coffee or three here! Still, I quite like the hot chocolates here, even if my teeth don't, but then I discovered that they serve decaff coffee in this particular Cafe... perfect!

Back at home I found a letter waiting for me from the Kommune to say that they had finally(!) received instructions from the UK Tax Office to pay child benefit here which is great news as it's needed for the children's school fees and shoes etc, and most importantly means that I no longer have to waste hours on the phone to the really helpful (yeah right!!) UK Tax Office! I definitely think my lucky plant had something to do with it being such a successful Saturday. Tomorrow I will probably slip over in the kitchen whilst wearing my new boots and squash the Hoya in the process, but it has been a really nice weekend. Thanks plant.