Out with the Old Clothes, In with New German Garments!

Peek and Cloppenburg, for the smart lady, (me sometimes)

 

I'm normally not a shopper, having a very real dislike of knowing what I want in advance, and then not being able to find it, or worst still finding what I like, and that it costs too much or they haven't got my size.   However Tuesday was different, because I saw exactly what I wanted in the above smart shop, and although I had no cash with me, I came straight back on Wednesday morning, and bought a really nice dark blue blouse, with a pretty pink and pale blue flowered pattern. 

 

Further along the shopping mall I bought a nice pair of grey suede shoes, not in the above shop, but in a reasonably priced shoe shop meant for the younger generation.   I had a good shopping experience, which I believe is common parlance for such an unusual happening on my part.  

  

Wicky in the Burg Passage, a bit down market, (more to my taste)

 

After shopping I bought a big baguette filled with fish, salad and a delicious but heavy on the calories mayo, and then found a quiet seat to munch away and watch the world go by.  Not that the peace lasted long, as a drunken man turned up and sat too close to me, and started mumbling in German about the police and homelessness.  I then did what I always do in such circumstances, feigned all ignorance of German, and answered him in English.  This time it did not work,  because he replied to me in perfect English!

 

I was so surprised, and even though is rambled on with a beery breath, he told me he had worked in the Rover Plant in Swindon.  I told him I lived nearby, and that was it, we are now friends for life!  Later I caught the tram home, and there he was again, and continued a loud conversation in English on the tram about Virginia, his lady friend in Swindon, and how nice she was.  They had lived together in Old Town for a short while, and he wondered if she was still alive.

 

He waved to me as he left the tram at a later stop, and was gone.   Poor man, how does someone lose everything in life, even his own self respect.   I went from the discomfort of trying to ignore a drunken man, to a compassionate listener in five minutes.  I wonder where he is now?