A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Lunch

I met with my knit-buddy Mary Jane for lunch today in downtown London.  Mary Jane lives in Essex and works in London.  Now that I work in Waterloo, we haven't had any opportunities to see each other and we don't anticipate many more in the future.  Yes, we communicate via the knitternets, but it's not quite the same thing.

Now, I'd heard through the grapevine that London's high-end yarn store, Needles and Pins, was going out of business.  This is very sad news.  The fact that they are selling everything at 50% off was very dangerous news.  My stash is getting a bit poogey, to tell the truth, and I've been trying to slim it down.  Knitting a lace shawl doesn't help much, despite the vast number of stitches involved, but it's summer time and we all do what we can. But Needles and Pins is closed on Mondays, so I felt safe in driving buy and saying a fond farewell to the place. 

Oh, you can guess where this is going, can't you?  It's like watching a scary movie and the music is building and you shout to the teenaged girl "No! Don't open the door!  He's got an axe!"

As I drove by two sights met my eyes, one was the big 50% sign.  The other was the word OPEN.  Before I knew it my steering wheel had veered sharply to the right and I found myself in the the door.  I had half and hour before lunch and no restraint.  I walked out of there with 58 balls of Rowan and only a vague idea of how much it all cost.

It's a good thing to have knit-buddies in times like these because as I slid into the booth across from Mary Jane and explained why I was late, the only thing I got from her was sympathy.  "Been there, done that!" she told me with a laugh.

And yes, I have confessed the whole lurid story to Jim.  It's my money he told me and he pointed out that I'd spent all my holiday money.  The only thing I didn't tell him about was the parking ticket I got because I forgot to put money in the meter!