Friday 1 March 2013

Rolling Flashback

As you may or may not recall, I spent five weeks last Summer in SoCal, staying with my mum in a little 'city' not far out of LA. On a couple of days, tired of the heat, we retreated to Westfield, Santa Anita, and spent the day wandering through beautiful air-conditioned shops. When we had to venture outside, either to go into another shop or to rush back to the car - hiss! sizzle! -, we passed by these utterly charming wicker chairs and tables, arranged beneath parasols. I'm sure these arrangements much exist in the UK, but I've never seen them. I've never seen a long enough period of good weather to warrant their existence! I thought they were great. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that I took a photograph. 

In SL today, I found them! Their virtual twins. I know it sounds silly, but I've spent the last however many months being haunted by California (in a good way). It seems so strange and alien to me that I was ever there, and that has been made more strange, now, since the next time I go out to visit my family State-side, it will be in an entirely different location (they moved house - to Arkansas!). It would be so easy to think that the Summer was a dream. A very hot, unusually humid, dream. 

So yes. I got quite excited. And it presented an opportunity to show off my new buys today, which are special because I got them from the Arcade and I've never been to the Arcade before. It was an interesting experience.

Look at them! So inviting! Wicker chairs!

The Arcade - for the uninitiated - is basically a kind of pretty warehouse space that is...well. An arcade! Shops in SL make items specifically for the event and put them into machines called gachas, which are basically those domed things filled with toys. You put a penny in, and out pops a toy at random. It took me longer to get into the sim that I actually spend there (the sim was full!). I didn't stay there long. I wanted some skates, and one of those cute animal backpacks, and then I left.

I'm going to stop with the rambly anecdotes now. Just. Wicker chairs! Westfield! Santa Anita! SoCal! Summer! Me! Roller skates!

2 comments:

  1. The wicker chairs at Westfield were pretty wonderful, but then the perpetual sunshine meant they could have such wonderful things. We do have a lovely open air type mall here called Pinnacle Hills, but I haven't seen any lovely wicker anywhere - I suspect it rains too much!

    The coffee house in town is fabulous though, and when you come out to visit in Arkansas, we will go and sit and sip and put the world to rights in the Iron Horse Coffee House....

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  2. Well exactly - and that sounds very good :D Miss you x

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