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Dec. 15th, 2025 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turpsThe knife saga is over, sadly, not with help by Amazon. In the end, yesterday, we just drove to the outlet mall again and bought the equivalent quality knives from the kitchen shop there. It did cost a little more than the Amazon prices, but both knives also come guaranteed for 25 years and at least they're bought as it was getting a little close to Christmas for comfort.
We did our usual thing of going an hour early, planning to go for a Costa while waiting for the shops to open at 10. Only to find out the Sunday hours are different, and you couldn't even get to any of the shops, including the food ones, as the gates to the actual mall were all shut. But, you could go into the McDonalds at the end, so I had a McMuffin and coffee and watched the craft and food stalls set up.
There were so many tempting stalls, including one selling bath stuff. I'm a sucker for soap, whipped soaps etc, so after checking out the smells I gave James a big hint such stuff would be nice to receive, and he sent me on my way as he made a surprise purchase. Which he then left next to the Christmas tree at home in an open paper bag.
We may also have come home with some cakes, which were enjoyed last night, with more left for tea later.
Saturday it was the delivery day for the pieces James has been working on. Thankfully, the man who'd commissioned the pieces loved them. James had also created a freebie for him, a raccoon on a live piece of wood. I think that's the technical term anyway, it's wood which still has bark attached at the sides. The man sat stroking that piece -- the other two are a bit big to hold onto -- and it was obvious he was genuinely happy with everything, which was such a relief.
After delivering those, we drove up to Seahouses, taking the coastal route and stopping off in some small villages to have a mooch and hot coffees. It was so nice to do that, normally those places are packed in the summer, but in winter it was easy to look around and actually see stuff, including a red phone box that had been turned into a Christmas decorated tiny library.
In Seahouses itself, we got to pose with a giant plastic polar bear, and a lovely lady offered to take a photo of both of us together You can also see photos of the pieces James delivered if you're interested, just click the arrows to see all the photos. No photo of the raccoon piece, though, I had to take a screengrab from a video from that, so that's behind the cut. With bonus standing in front of our Christmas tree too, as I knowturlough likes to laugh at it every year *g*
We did our usual thing of going an hour early, planning to go for a Costa while waiting for the shops to open at 10. Only to find out the Sunday hours are different, and you couldn't even get to any of the shops, including the food ones, as the gates to the actual mall were all shut. But, you could go into the McDonalds at the end, so I had a McMuffin and coffee and watched the craft and food stalls set up.
There were so many tempting stalls, including one selling bath stuff. I'm a sucker for soap, whipped soaps etc, so after checking out the smells I gave James a big hint such stuff would be nice to receive, and he sent me on my way as he made a surprise purchase. Which he then left next to the Christmas tree at home in an open paper bag.
We may also have come home with some cakes, which were enjoyed last night, with more left for tea later.
Saturday it was the delivery day for the pieces James has been working on. Thankfully, the man who'd commissioned the pieces loved them. James had also created a freebie for him, a raccoon on a live piece of wood. I think that's the technical term anyway, it's wood which still has bark attached at the sides. The man sat stroking that piece -- the other two are a bit big to hold onto -- and it was obvious he was genuinely happy with everything, which was such a relief.
After delivering those, we drove up to Seahouses, taking the coastal route and stopping off in some small villages to have a mooch and hot coffees. It was so nice to do that, normally those places are packed in the summer, but in winter it was easy to look around and actually see stuff, including a red phone box that had been turned into a Christmas decorated tiny library.
In Seahouses itself, we got to pose with a giant plastic polar bear, and a lovely lady offered to take a photo of both of us together You can also see photos of the pieces James delivered if you're interested, just click the arrows to see all the photos. No photo of the raccoon piece, though, I had to take a screengrab from a video from that, so that's behind the cut. With bonus standing in front of our Christmas tree too, as I know
turlough likes to laugh at it every year *g* 
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Date: 2025-12-15 09:25 pm (UTC)that plaque is terrific! I'm so glad he's getting attention, and more customers.
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Date: 2025-12-15 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-16 12:04 am (UTC)Most of our malls have been torn down and replaced by other things. The only actual mall that's still operating is close to me. I guess it has longer hours, but I went over there once just after 9AM, and apparently, the regular hours are around 11AM to 6PM! Not like malls back when I was a teen. Those were open more like 9AM to 10PM. Sad to see them go. But I shouldn't complain as I haven't set foot in that mall in probably over a decade.
James does such wonderful work! I'm glad his customer was pleased.
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Date: 2025-12-16 10:39 am (UTC)That is limited hours for your local mall. The biggest one near us is open for extended hours, closing around 8 for the retail places, and much later for the cinema and restaurants. Not sure when the outlet mall closes, though I can't imagine it'll be open that late.
The customer was thrilled, it was lovely to see.
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Date: 2025-12-16 10:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-12-16 10:43 am (UTC)I had to laugh when I saw the open bag, especially after he ushered me away so I couldn't see what he was buying *g*
The plaque came out so nice, the bark being there really did add to the appeal.
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Date: 2025-12-16 12:45 pm (UTC)LOL at James leaving the open bag by the tree!
Yay for cakes!
How wonderful that the man was so obviously pleased with his purchases, and the raccoon freebie!
I bet the photos with the polar bear are awesome!
You do have a lot of decorations on your tree! No wonder it takes you a while to set it up. *g*
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Date: 2025-12-16 03:22 pm (UTC)I mean, how could I not look in that open bag? It's right there next to the tree, not even tucked away *g*
The cakes were delicious.
The man was thrilled with everything, which is a relief as James did work really hard on them all.
I was quite surprised to walk around the corner and find a giant plastic polar bear, and that lady was lovely to offer to take our photo.
Yep, the tree has so many decorations, and isn't tasteful at all. Just what I love in a Christmas tree.
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Date: 2025-12-16 07:41 pm (UTC)No, James, leaving the gifts for your wife in an open bag in the living room is NOT a good way to keep them secret *snicker*
It's so good to hear the guy was happy with James' work! Not that I'm suprised, James does such lovely work, particularly the animals!
Love the photo of you and the polarbear! The old phone booth look so festive all spruced up!
I think you've outdone yourself this year, your tree looks even more magnificently tasteless than usual :-D
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Date: 2025-12-17 10:53 am (UTC)I was so amused when I saw that bag, especially as it's a paper bag, so the contents are clearly shown from above *g*
The guy was over the moon, it was nice to see his reaction to the work.
That polarbear was amazing, and so random to find. We had to take photos, and I agree, the phone booth looked so good.
Magnificently tasteless, the perfect description *g*
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Date: 2025-12-20 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-13 03:28 pm (UTC)That was such a wonderful bonus. The guy was so happy with the pieces.