A SEAT WITH A VIEW FOR MONO MONDAY...

...and “something you don’t see every day.”

Mr. HCB had suggested that we went to Hillier Garden Centre today to see if we could get any cheap plants to fill our oval bed, and of course, I was game, so off we went.

Our first port of call is always the “Half Price Table”, but we could see there was nothing on that, so decided to make our way into the coffee shop, but on the way I saw a seat with two snowmen behind and persuaded Mr. HCB that we could use that as a “Seat With a View” to which he cheekily said “Yes, a view of you taking a photograph of me!”  How rude! 

Then on our way into the coffee shop, we spotted a trolley filled with goodies that were even better than half price!  We got 5 quite large wallflower plants that should have been £5.99 each but were reduced to £1 - definitely a bargain - and then there were a couple of Dianthus, which were also a £1 instead of £5.99 each so we stuck those in the trolley too.  A Symphoricarpus at £7 instead of £19.99 jumped into the trolley, as did a tray of Cyclamen for £4 and a tray of Polyanthus for £2 - so we were well chuffed.

Of course, I took several other photographs as we went round the inside of the garden centre - all things that are bang on theme, which is another amazing thing for me - “Something you don’t see every day”.

I was amused by the sign in the coffee shop which said “Please help yourself to cake, tongs are provided”, which I thought was rather ambiguous because of course, you could help yourself, but you would still have to pay and at the prices we saw, we would definitely not be doing that!  In fact, I was horrified when I saw the price of ONE mince pie - £2.65p.   You could probably make 3 dozen for that price at home and I’m sure they would taste better - not that we tasted the Hilliers’ one, but I’m sure you get my drift.

After coffee, we had a mooch around the Christmas stuff - most of which was very nice, but £9.99 for a green dinosaur to go on the Christmas tree?  I think not!  We did have a very nice conversation with a couple about our age about the exorbitant prices and then, having said that “fings ain’t wot they used to be” went on our way.  

I was thrilled to see a pair of china ducks sitting on a bench and though it would be an ideal gift for some friends who love ducks, but on opening the box to check it was all OK, we found it broken into about 6 pieces.  I found an assistant and told her, so she came over and we checked the other 8 boxes on the shelves, and 6 of them were in the same state.  Needless to say it rather put us off buying them, so we didn’t bother.

A grocery shop at Aldi on our way home, where we met a friend we haven’t seen for sometime, completed our morning - so this afternoon will be spent underneath my electric throw as my legs and feet are very cold now and as it’s raining, I won’t be going out for a walk, as I had planned.  It is definitely much colder today, in fact, it's ffffrrrreeezing out there and our Smart Meter is proving that - so thank goodness for the electric throw - which I thoroughly recommend if you don’t have one.  M xx  

P.S.  Does anyone else constantly check their Smart Meter - or is it just us because it’s new?