Shopping

The Gorse Fox is not proud of it. He is an impulse shopper. Today could, so easily, have turned bad… but he was resolute. He bought nothing beyond the odd coffee and some tapas at lunchtime.

We had set out for Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, where, meeting up with Betty and Barney Rubble, we had planned to wander the shops and have some lunch. With professional help from Silver Vixen the first part of the plan went without a hitch. Every shop was checked, and those providing a modicum of interest were examined within an inch of their lives. The Gorse Fox and Barney Rubble were selective and only entered those shops that demanded our attention – the rest of the time we hovered outside in the cold.

By lunchtime we headed round to the restaurant we had chosen. In perfect synchrony with yesterday’s Bignor trip, we found it was closed. Heading onwards we stopped at La Tasca and enjoyed a selection of tapas: Tortilla Espanola, Polo Malaga, Pork Belly, Gambas Valenciana… all washed down with a jug of sangria.

After lunch, the idea had been to head to the top of the Spinnaker Tower. Again we were thwarted. The lifts were out of action for planned maintenance – but we were welcome to climb the 570 steps. We thanked them kindly for that offer but decided that fighting the forces of gravity, even as a group, was not an efficacious post-prandial delight, and wandered off back to the shops.