12 May 2010 – And The SIN Shawl

It is quite a humbling experience to be standing 6hrs at The CentrePoint Robinsons with memories of odd summer jobs during university days popping into the mind when not busy. The first one being an au pair in Dublin/Ireland in 1966, a true eye-opener and learning experience never to be forgotten!

The most enjoyable summer job was in Tromsø/Norway at a toy & flower shop and the only summer job I did for two summers and one week during a Christmas holiday. In my teens/early 20s then, ignorant, immature, naive, etc this incident stuck in the mind. A very pregnant young woman came to order her wedding bouquet in Dec and she chose Lily of the Valley for the whole bouquet. Tromsø where I lived for 5 yrs is located above the Arctic Circle and Lily of the Valley is a delicate, beautiful fragrance white tiny flowers which grows wild in spring time but are cultivated for gardens too. All parts, including the berries, of the lily of the valley are highly poisonous… a typical case where looks and fragrance can be most deceiving!  Anyway I explained that we will have to fly them in from where ever I could find them and it would be quite costly. To my surprise she looked at her stomach and replied, han skal betale for det=he shall pay for it!!!

The most exquisite and expensive SIN Shawls have both Swarovski crystal and jade embedded onto the beautiful material. So here I am thinking if such an incident will ever happened in SIN, ie with some pregnant person buying this shawl to wear for her wedding dinner… even if it happens, she will want the real diamonds embedded, not just crystal 🙂

And leaves of that shy plant,
Her flowers were shed_ the lily of the vale.
That loves the ground, and from the sun withholds
Her pensive beauty, from the breeze her sweets – William Wordsworth