"Into The Wild" Mug

 I blogged last Monday about the closure of our local Mountain Warehouse. Which is making me very sad. I buy lots of things there, even though I am not one for outdoor activities. But they have some many nice and/or useful things. Such as their enamel mugs. I buy them for Wolfie and for me, my wife isn't quite so fond of them. Not for hot drinks, because then the metal catches the heat and you end up burning your fingers. No, I only use them for cold drinks. The good thing about them is that they don't break easily. And they often have cool images on them. This is so far my favourite. I find it ironic, as like I said I don't go into the wild all that much. Barely at all, in fact. I don't go deep in the forest or on camping, where I guess this mug would be really useful. All the same, you look at this image and it's as if you're there.

Camping Night (and an autumnal promise)

Last Saturday, we went to Wolfie's school special camping night. We did not spend the night there, we just went so he could play with his friends, to have a few drinks and enjoy a barbecue. It's always a pleasant event. But this year, I enjoyed it for another reason. As you know, I long for the autumn to come and I have been waiting for its signs. After the heatwave we've had recently (and thre is another one coming), it felt like my favourite season was so far away. But last Saturday evening, the atmosphere was autumnal: the air had cooled down and there was a pleasant breeze that cooled things down a bit more. As if suddenly, we were in early September. It felt like it anyway. Even Wolfie said it felt autumnal. Now it means nothing about what's it going to be in two month's time, but I had a foretaste of what this year's auutmn could be, and it should help me get through the hot days ahead.

Camping Socks

 I kind of miss our local White Stuff shop, which shut down in 2021. Not o much because I liked shopping there, I thought it was generally a bit expensive for what it was and I am no fashion victim. What I like about White Stuff is that their shops are quite quirky, see this post for instance. It's not about the clothes, it's about the place. That said, they do have nice things sometimes. Last time I went to one, I was tempted to buy these "camping" socks. I get through socks at a ridiculus rate and these would fit nicely if we were to, well, go camping one day. Which we might, we never know. But I didn't buy them because, well, they were kind of pricey for a single pair. I mean if it had trains on them, I wouldn't even have hesitated. But yeah, they still looked cool.

Mysterious Chinese Dragon

 Last weekend, when we went to the school camping activity with Wolfie, I saw this thing floating on top of a pole. And I was wondering what the heck was that. I mean I could tell it was a dragon, and a Chinese dragon at that, but still, I was not sure. So I took a picture and checked online. A quick Google Image search made me discover that it was a Traditional Chinese Fire Dragon Windsock. Well, I got the Chinese dragon part right. But what it was doing there, why it was there and who had the idea to bring a Chinese dragon on a camping site, I have no idea. It remains a complete mystery. All the same, it looks kinda cool.

Camping and Mountain Warehouse

Yesterday, we went to a camping activity organised by Wolfie's school. We only did the day/evening one, we did not spend the night there. I might blog in more details about the camping activity itself in another post. But I digress. We learned that the local Mountain Warehouse was offering a 10% discount for the families doing the school camping, we just had to go there and say a word and that's it, we would get a discount. As we did not have outdoors chairs anymore (the old ones, bought at Mountain Warehouse too, incidentally, having brolen down), we stopped briefly to the local shop for a quick purchase, before going to "Camp Night". Wolfie already had a chair for outdoors, so I bought two, one for my wife, one for me. They were dark green, the kind of colour my wife loathes, but at least they were quite cheap. And beside, the green chairs were the only ones left. So we are now the happy new owners of green outdoor chairs, perfect for camping and for spending relaxing time outside. If we ever need a tent, we will go there again. I am amazed of how much I now rely on Mountain Warehouse for, well, everything. I am a sedentary man, so it always comes off as a bit of a surprise.

The Ducks' Mug

We have too many mugs here. Way too many mugs. So I do not buy more mugs, even though sometimes, I get tempted. Because I sometimes like to drink in a mug that sets me in a mood. We went to a garen centre a couple of weeks ago. There was a camping section that was selling, among other things, mugs. Like this one. With cute ducks on it. I don't know why, but I find it autumnal looking. I associate ducks to the autumn season, just because, you know, they migrate round this time of year. And the colours here look so very autumnal. So drinking from this mug, whatever you drink, you must feel like autumn is here. But I didn't buy it, even though I was tempted. Because our cupboards truly are full.

La tasse du chevreuil

 Nous sommes allés dans un centre de jardinage hier. Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi, ça a comme été une décision de dernière minute. En plus de toutes les patentes de Pâques, il y avait une section sur le camping, qui avait quelque chose de bien automnal (et de bien masculin aussi, enfin c'est mon impression, surtout que ça n'a fait ni chaud ni froid à ma femme). J'y ai vu de belles tasses en métal, dont celle-ci, avec un chevreuil. Nous avons trop de tasses dans la maison, sinon je l'aurais achetée. Elle fait vraiment très automne, vous ne trouvez pas?

Camping Jammies

A couple of years ago, my wife bought me pajama trousers in a new year sales. She bought it in the local FatFace before it closed down. For some strange reason in this country, they can sell pj trousers and the top separately. So anyway these pjays, or jammies as they often call it here in the UK (and if you didn't know that term before, keep it in mind, it is our new word of the day) quickly became my favourite pair of trousers. Even though they were not right in many little ways: a bit too long, a bit too wide, not quite warm enough for winter, a bit too warm for summer. Oh, and I always needed to find a tshirt or a top when I wanted to wear it. But I loved the design on it: it had images of tents, campfire, logs, fish, trees, as if the trousers were designed for camping trips. I never did proper camping, except a few nights in the back garden when I was a teenager. So the trousers are all worn out now, too worn out so I won't take them on our holiday, even though I am very tempted. It is funny, because I think it is the design that made me like them, even though I'm not into camping at all. And I feel like I never did my ol' jammies justice.