To be honest, I'm not a very good shopper. I like looking at things rather than buying them.
When I go to London, I always visit Liberty's to look at all the things I can't afford and admire the architecture. I worked in their bookshop in the summer of 1972!
Such a splendid staircase
and such wonderful flowers!
I did buy four books at the Persephone bookshop which is exactly where I would like to work now - if I lived in London. Actually, I want to buy all the books - first for the content and second for their looks. I recommend The Village by Margarita Laski - a very clear-eyed look at a small village post World War Two.
This is a bookshop in Lewes which was fortunately closed - thus saving me the trouble of carting assorted tempting retro books across the Atlantic.
This is the gift shop at Charleston farmhouse where one can stock up on Bloomsbury related reading matter - of which there is a great deal. I bought a very small coaster as a present for a friend.
This alarming shop in Berwick Street, Soho, was barred to prevent the clothes escaping to threaten us with the 1960's and the horrid odor of patchouli.
Ah, Patisserie Valerie on Old Compton Street. Yes, I went in and had a croissant and a lovely hot chocolate.
How I admire the Queen for her resolve and endurance. Here she is on a biscuit tin. Lots of Queen's 90th birthday memorabilia.
Claudia and I made the awful mistake of going to Harrods where I hadn't been in many many years. (I worked in their bookshop in the summer of 1970). The lovely tiles were still there in the food halls. The rest of the shop was much altered. Bought some Charbonel & Walker chocolates as a present for a friend from a very sweet girl who gave us free samples of other choices. Total haul of London shopping: children's clothing and four books....
