Pop to the shops

I went to the corner shop this morning and in my basket I put...

Some fish fingers
A box of cornflakes
A packet of baby wipes
A pregnancy kit
A bounty bar
Some Rizla papers
Two packets of Doritos
A can of Red Bull
...and finally
The Daily Mail

Anything odd about my list d'you reckon?

Well it's not what you might think.

Look closely or go large and you'll see that everything on the shelves is made from hand-stitched felt. Artist Lucy Sparrow has spent 7 months hand-making the contents of her pop-up cornershop in Bethnal Green.

There's a freezer full of frozen goods, an ice cream chiller, a cigarette counter, jars of sweets, a newspaper stand and just about everything else you can think of. Even the till and the billboard outside the shop are felted. I half expected that Lucy would be as well. Actually she looks pretty pale having scarcely left the house this year.

The cornershop opened today and I confess that I got down there within 20 minutes of it opening as I had visions of the shelves being cleared by lunchtime. Of course that isn't the case. Everything is for sale but you can't take anything home 'til the shop closes at the end of August.

Everyone in there this morning was smiling. Big grins. How could you not? So if you have a chance, get down there for a bit of instant happiness. And while you're there buy yourself some instant felt noodles, natch.

Joyful.