"I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks,
each sack had seven cats,
each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks and wives.
How many were going to St. Ives."
- anonymous-
It is said, if you want to have your hair cut and styled and then afterwards go out for a nice Thai meal, then come to St. Ives. At last count there were 23 hair salons and 16 Asian eateries in this quaint market town. Every time a shop vacates, bets are placed on whether it will be yet another - you got it - hair salon or Asian restaurant.
St. Ives also boasts five eccentric charity shops. I love charity shops!! Not only can I spend an entire day searching for really thrifty things, I can get an earful of the latest town gossip such as: which shops are closing doors, the tragic demise of the Muscovy duck that was squished by a delivery truck on Bridge Street or how many joints the eighty five year old shop lady has had replaced during the span of her life.
A day out to the charity shops can be entertaining as well. I love it when the grey-haired, doddery shop clerk is bouncing around amongst the clothes racks singing along to a song on the radio. Last week she was singing along to a song by the pop group "Wham."
I think my all time favourite has to be the forboding conversation I overheard between two shop ladies which went something like this:
Older Woman: "I'm going home now m'luv"
Young Woman: "Okay, have a lovely evening then. Are you having something nice for your tea?"
Older Woman: "Oh yes, I'm making a pot of chilli con carne, sans the con carne. I've never been able to eat red meat ever since I was a child and witnessed my Nan choke to death on a piece of steak."
My youngest daughter was visiting England this summer, attending a Medieval History course at St. Catherine's College in Cambridge, and during her visit we called in on all these not-so-boutique charity shops. Upon entering one in particular, she turned to me and with a painful expression on her face, whispered "Mom, this store smells like pee!" Looking around the store with great hubris and taking in a big bucket lung full of air, I replied "yeah, isn't it great!" I hope to see the day when charity shops soon out number hair salons.
Here's a website about St. Ives: http://www.stivescambs.co.uk/
*Note to readers* There are to be two additional charity shops opening in St. Ives, January 2009.
{Post Script} This entry was originally posted 17 September 2008.