Sunday at the markets

In my humble opinion, there's no better way to while away Sunday morning than exploring a good market at one's leisure. I was just tucking into my scrambled eggs on toast this morning when Vic mentioned that the quarterly Perth Upmarket was on at UWA; after an hour being subjected to the dismal affair that was England's second innings in the first test of The Ashes, I was glad of an excuse to get out of the apartment and as far away from the TV as possible. There was a big cycle race on around Perth, so numerous road closures meant that we had to take a very long route over to campus, but we eventually made it and squeezed into a space in the packed car park. Prachie and Vic both commented on how pretty my place of work is and it took this visit free of the working environment for me to appreciate this; all the trees were in bloom and it was a cool but beautiful day.

Winthrop Hall basking in the sunshine

What with it being Perth Upmarket and all, the place was absolutely packed with rich Mums and obnoxious children, but a few strategic sharp elbows meant that we jostled around with the best of them and had a lovely time browsing all the stalls full of beautiful handmade treats. There were too many gorgeous things to mention, but a few stalls did catch my eye. Papillon Belle featured beautiful jewellery with a butterfly theme; each pendant was named after a particular species and the light gave them a gorgeous stained glass effect. It goes without saying that I'm a sucker for photography, and Sunday Sunset provided some really unusual perspectives of all your typical WA landmarks. A few of his crisp, white-mounted stills caught my eye, but the logistics of getting them back to England were rather unforgiving and a couple of postcards had to do. Even my two loves of food and puns were satisfied by Kookery, with everything from tea towels to rolling pins emblazoned with culinary genius such as "to brie or not to brie" and "grin and camembert it". If I had (a) a lot of cash and (b) kids (god forbid), they would be very nicely kitted out in the huge array of children's clothing available. I have also found the perfect birthday present for my darling Chloe, but I won't mention that particular seller in case it gives the game away ;) I know what you're like with your detective skills Foreman! You can better understand the extent of the temptation I faced with by checking out the full list of retailers here.

Being the fatty that I am, I can hardly fail to mention the huge range of food that was on offer. I practiced great restraint and dragged myself away from the Gourmet Pies, Paella, savoury Japanese pancakes and Moroccan Lamb, but expecting me to bypass the beautiful array of macarons was asking too much of my self-control and my sweet tooth. Lemon and white chocolate and raspberry were the bites of choice and they're in the fridge, along with Prachie's cupcakes, for after-dinner delight. Vic was a little surprised that, with all these beautiful items for sale, the only things we bought were edible, but I could have predicted that before we arrived. Catriona also made a brief appearance and, with her voice almost back to normal after a nasty attack of laryngitis, was even able to converse with the retailers she was buying stuff from!

I had a little wander around the grounds when I was done shopping and it really was a glorious day; you could even walk around without sweating or passing out from the heat, so that was a bonus! We drove home at midday and I am currently drowning my sorrows caused by England's failure by drinking tea and stuffing my face with cupcake. Nothing like a bit of comfort eating to finish of the weekend, right?