As the title no doubt gives away, I got these from Mr Price (or Monsieur Pricé, if you prefer). I remember the occasion well: I went in because I saw quite a nice jumper that said "Beach please" and I decided I needed to buy it for my sister. I then noticed how long the queue to pay was and was slightly disheartened. But I looked again at the jumper, so obviously destined to belong to my sister, and, though somewhat unsure as to which muscles to tense in order to do it properly, girded my loins to hang about a bit.
As is my custom, I had in my iPod earbuds and was listening to an entertaining audio book (though which one in particular I can't quite recall) so at least I wouldn't be completely bored. After a while, though, my determination to purchase the jumper in the face of the interminably slow-moving queue began to wane and I toyed with the idea of giving up. At this point, the queue wended its plodding way ... hold that thought. For some reason that phrase just reminded me of what the audio book was: "Xenocide" by Orson Scott Card, the third in the Ender Quintet. I think the image of the queue brought to mind the wood grain lines that Han Qing-jao has to trace.
Anyway, back to Mr Price. At this point, the bit of the queue I was standing in wound past the earring display, so naturally I had a glance at the jewellery on offer. Mr Price sometimes has some gems, and this was indeed the case in this, um, case, as evidenced by the image above. This unexpected discovery gave me the patience I needed to make it to the tills and exit the shop triumphant, bearing both the lovely jumper and today's earrings. A most successful expedition.
