Girlie shopping

I haven't realised that I live in a very male house. Well.. my dad is staying with us, then I have "the husband" and my boy who's starting to grow into a young man.
This just struck me when I planned to take my little cousin out and the guys ideas were totally daft, so after the usual visits to sight see Barcelona and to see Gaudi's houses I took her to the biggest shopping area in town and she totally loved it. In fact, I loved it too. So, while the guys (my dad and my son) stayed in a shady part drinking something and dying of boredom, my lovely little French cousin and I went happily skipping around, comparing prices and stuff. Even the part of shopping that I truly dislike, trying on the clothes, was fun as we compared things and laugh at trying some obviously stupid fashion faux pas.
(as you can see I even managed to improve my French)

The last time I went shopping here was with my friend Esmeralda, but this time was even better as this is sale season. I don't know why, but they're selling all the summer stuff as if we're heading into winter. And the summer just started and it does last until September!!! So, plenty of time yet to wear the stuff that I bough a half price.
So, ladies, if you like shopping, this is the perfect time to visit Barcelona. You can shop 'till you drop and then drop in a lovely sandy beach where you can get a 20 minute massage for €10 (aprox. 7 pounds). I'm not joking, as well as having people on the beach selling cold drinks and cheap jewelry you have people going around crying "masages". The people selling stuff are usually black young men and the masseuses are oriental looking women. I heard that they're illegal immigrants, of which, apparently, there are many.

Of course the truly lovely stuff is still expensive even with a 50% discount. A 50% discount of a €1,000 pair of shoes is still €450 too expensive for me. But I love cheap stuff anyway, so I bough a nice summer dress in H&M (of all places!) for €12 (less than a tenner), shower gels at half price, 2 blouses for working and trousers and underwear for my guys. I'm still trying to find a nice pair of comfortable sandals that I can use to go and teach. There's many to choose from as one of the few industries in Spain, apart from tourism, is making shoes, but I'm very picky.