Monday 20 February 2017

Safer, Saner Places...

Last Tuesday [Valentine's Day] we had to go out and buy a new kettle and afterwards we stopped off for coffee.
Full marks to Costa at Castlepoint Retail Park- note the glass of water with Bob's espresso, and the romantic chocolate hearts in our saucers!
Costa is upstairs in WHSmiths.
It does seem to me these days that I only go into branches of WHS for their instore coffee shops or Post Offices. 
WHS seemed to be so much more interesting when I was younger - more serious books, useful stationery items [not just pretty notebooks and colouring pads for adults] Now there are stacks of celebrity cookbooks and novelty gifts.
There were piles of Ladybird books with titles like 'How It Works -The Wife'' "Mindfulness" "The Shed" "The Hipster" and more. 
Also they have some spoof Famous Five titles [Five go Gluten Free, Five on Brexit Island, Five go on a Strategy Away Day]
Now they are doing a range of alternative I-Spy books too. I loved the original ones as a child, when we went on long car journeys. 

I hadn't seen these ones before. I looked through the one about signs and instructions that you MUST obey.
was tickled by the sign telling tractors to slow down. It suggests that if you spot this, you will have made it to one of those 'safer, saner regions... like Norfolk' - but the sign depicted was printed in Dorset.[We discovered last year that the epicentre of such signage is actually Ferndown - many of these roadsigns are created in a workshop here!]





7 comments:

  1. Love those books! Reading EXACTLY what signs say can be fun: when ever I see a sign saying "Alarmed door" I wonder if I should reassure it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's so thoughtful of you!! I wish they wouldn't label WCs "Disabled Toilet" - I am concerned they might be out of order.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We have lots of "Hidden Dips" on our roads - always wonder if we are plunging into something tasty!
    Haven't seen the spoof I Spy - loved them when I was little then re-discovered for our children. Son has been collecting old ones whenever he sees them.They bought themselves ladybird The Husband and The Wife when they got married last December - Hilarious!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We shout Taramasalata! if we see a Hidden Dip sign. I have quite a few old Ladybird books, but none of the spoof ones. Maybe I should get the one for Grandparents...

    ReplyDelete
  5. CBC bought the 5go Gluten free for our South African Gluten free friend! I do find WH Smith less interesting nowadays like you!x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, those spoofs of the Famous Five would be fun to read! Now you have me wanting to really take another look at some of the signs, I see! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. The problem with the spoof Ladybird books is that they are very funny the first time you read them - but after that, hmm. Not so, as you've reazd it before. Quite expensive for a one-off smile! Someone gave us The Cat Ladybird book which is amusing. I think if I put it away for a couple of years I'll smile again when I come across it.

    ReplyDelete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!