I went a bit silly yesterday.

By way of clarification: for me that means actually entering a shop.

I’m a bit averse to shopping (except for food) but all of Paris has been on sale, which is kind of hard to avoid considering I often walk home along Rue de Passy.

Furthermore, I went into the Gap store. I had been avoiding it since I was too scared to enter the Franck et Fils department store (and when I did, I was greeted with a “no cameras” sign on the door. I think it was a clear statement for tourists to stay the heck out, especially the calico-bagged, rainbow-laced-sneakered cultural tourist type).

But what did I find tucked away in a corner in my first less-than-intimidating three seconds in Gap? An awesome black winter coat for €26 – wow, wow, wow. I snapped it up instantly and even felt confident to try on jeans (which was instantly demoralising. Tall people with small waists aren’t allowed to have big thighs. Big thighs, big waist – small thighs, small waist… or so the logic seems to go). But I was totally chuffed about my coat and had a chuckle that they had the nerve to call what I considered the height of fashion a “military coat.” Hmm… armies of the world take note!

I’m not worried that winter is halfway over – it will be fine for next year because I don’t think Charlotte Gainsbourg will change her style anytime soon, so neither will the rest of Paris…

Anyway, flushed with shopping success I went to the Body Shop to buy lip balm. When I was waiting in line another woman turned to ask me if I had bought a coat from chez Gap. I replied yes, and then she started quizzing me about details and price. I bid her to wait, and with a flourish I pulled the coat from the bag. Everyone ohhed and ahhed, and marvelled that it was only 26€.

‘But surely that size is too big for you?’ someone asked. (Gosh, what an opportunity to practise my fledgling French in a conversation that wasn’t ‘Hello, France Telecom. There is a problem with our phone bill. You are charging us for phone calls. We don’t have a phone’).

‘No, it’s fine. Because it’s for winter’ and then I concluded my sentence with what I hoped was the Esperanto hand gestures for ‘it has room to fit a lot of jumpers underneath.’ I think she understood. She nodded thoughtfully.