Lost in the Supermarket - 02 Sep 08

Today, I tried to reason with myself over buying something that I want more than need. I had seen a pair of optical glasses whilst passing an optical store in Plaza de Chueca, Madrid. At 344 Euros, they're not cheap. My heart says buy, want, WANT! But my rational mind says, "Hey Consumerist Pig! Do you really need these things? Shouldn't you put your money to better use?"

Spending on such luxuries as personal items has been virtually zilch recently. My rational is that anything I buy has to be some kind of investment in my photographic journey. Hence, the reason I spent a guilt free grand on a new Canon 70-200 f2.8 I.S L series lens.

My current mode of thinking is that the 280 GBP could be spent on some further photographic outlay, like maybe a studio flash head. Oh we'll see....

So after trying on the glasses and being flanked at the mirror by an assistant staring at me on both sides attempting to glorify my facial appendages, I decided to just "fuck it". They kep

t showering me with new frames nothing like the ones I liked. "Just hold back!", "It's all too much" I said in some roundabout way before making an exit.

Incidentally the frames were by a US designer called Blinde Eyewear and handmade in Japan. Michael Cane/Buddy Holly types that were black with a fade to see through at the lower part of the lens. Well, it's not like I don't own some fly Kirk Originals already!

So I got my retail kicks elsewhere in the form of a vintage postcard store that I had spotted the previous day when walking to Chueca from Retiro. They sell old b&w postcards of madrid in the 50's together with cards of old movie stars. 

I really liked the Bardot ones. I'm not into the blonde bombshell look, and generally not even caucasian girls but there is somethings about Bardot that is so unique. Kate, Aggy and others have been styled and modelled on this look over again but there is only one true blonde icon and thats Brigitte. And hey, she did the rock & roll thing better that Kate and Aggy too. Just check out her tracks, "Contact" and "Harley Davidson".

I was feeling pretty tired by now so I headed for the beautiful churchyard at Santa Barbara a few streets away where I have taken a nice afternoon kip. I slept on a wall next to these flowers which I thought were pretty psychedelic!

I rounded off the day with another sleep in the sun on a terrace above Moncloa metro station. It was about 7.30 by now and the sun was still beating strong. The terrace was close the the Universities and was popular with young people smoking, loving and hanging out after college. Perhaps I'll go back...