Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Summoned unto the Halls of Mammon.

Not entirely welcomed. It was however refreshingly quiet. Visited the much lauded shop Søstrene Grene. Not impressed. Full of stuff nobody needs and they have adopted the Ikea maze store layout (if you want to get out you either have to swim upstream like a salmon or pass every single item in the shop) which I find insulting. Five minute wait at the two out of three checkouts open. Not an entirely negative review - the store did smell nice, very woody.


Just over halfway through Mrs FP (whose shopping stamina previously has won several medals and a mention in the local press) cried enough. Any way, that is enough retail for me for 2024. Hopefully.

The car park was a delight. Pull up to a barrier for entry. No instruction. Pushed a yellow button on the machine outside driver side window. Nothing seemed to happen then the barrier lifted. No ticket, nothing. We drove in and parked. Once our retail purgatory experience had been completed we sourced one of the 'pay at machine' locations. We encountered an elderly man (probably same age as me) who had been trying to get through the electronic pay screen for half an hour. He let us have a go, and Mrs FP managed to navigate the poorly designed system eventually. The only help button on screen turned the text to Deutche which we found did not improve the situation. (I did French, Mrs FP French, Greek and Latin).

It seems when you push the anonymous button as you enter a camera reads your car registration plate which in turn you have to enter prior to exit. Then you have to present a card and the machine will let you free if you are lucky. Except it doesn't always work. None of this is explained 

I do hope the bewildered gent has managed to extricate himself from the car park because that was five hours ago and it is now minus two degrees C.

Now I know I'm going off piste here...provide free parking. More people will come, and will stay longer and spend more money.

Airports! Edinburgh Airport charges £5 for what is essentialyl a drive by where you push your nearest and dearest out the passanger door of the car in front of the terminal. Scandalous money grubbing. Not to worry,  the drivers of aircraft fuelling trucks look set to strike for three weeks over Christmas and New Year. Good luck if you have a festive capital air-bnb anticipated.