What is it with nails? All over Great Britain, nail bars have sprung up in our towns and cities in the past decade. Along the main road that runs through our neighbourhood then on to the city centre there are now ten nail bars. The newest one has just opened five minutes walk away and it is called "Phoebe Nail".
Naturally, I had to take our Phoebe down there at the weekend - not to have her nails done but to get her picture taken outside the new business. The owner - probably from South East Asia - came out to talk to us.
Naturally, Phoebe kept shtum as small children will frequently do with strangers. The owner seemed very nice, telling me that this was the second shop she had opened. I wished her well with her new venture even though I will not myself be paying for "French tips" (£45) or even an "Eyebrow wax and tint" (£15). What the hell are "French tips" anyway? Are they like "French letters"?
Just before Halloween, I processed a picture a picture of our granddaughters with the aid of Microsoft Image Creator (AI). This is what came out:-
The image was grown from this one:-
The wee varmints were standing on our front doorstep back in September.
Speaking about those varmints. On Sunday afternoon, they came over to our house with their daddy ahead of Sunday dinner. How joyfully they arrived. Phoebe said "Can we watch something?" - referring to the television. I went back to my kitchen work and a minute later it was as if World War III had broken out in the front room.
There was yelling and crying and foot stomping. I wondered what the hell was going on. And when I went into the room both girls were in tears and distraught. Stewart and Shirley were trying to placate them
And what was this all about you might ask? It was simply to do with seating and status.
Ever since she could sit in that room, Phoebe has sat on a little green wooden chair with a woven rush seat. Normally Margot sits on her canvas "Fireman Sam" chair. But on Sunday, Margot got into the room first and claimed the green seat.
"It's my seat! I always sit there!" cried Phoebe but Margot was having none of it.
Usually the girls get on very well and sororal love flows like a gentle stream but just sometimes they can kick off. They both have strong personalities and can be very stubborn - like horses that refuse high fences in a steeplechase.
It took five minutes to calm them down and I now refer to this incident as Chairgate! However, by the time their roast pork dinners arrived at our dining table they were as right as ninepence again.
I love this post! You got me chuckling.
ReplyDeleteI know I should not be laughing about the chairgate incident, but I am. Who ended up in the green chair?
ReplyDeleteAh, my girls had chairgate--such that I instituted rotating choice days for them. They got to pick the chair, the color of cup they wanted, the radio station in the car, etc. I love manicures and pedicures; I find the massage relaxing and like having neat cuticles and nails. When I bought a manicure set for myself during the early pandemic, I was a bloody (literally) mess trying to do my own nails. Those implements are sharp! 10 nail places seems excessive though!
ReplyDeleteNail bars ate apparently a great cash laundering gig...
ReplyDeleteSo they say. Also possible work and a business opportunity for people without locally recognized qualifications. Employees probably on chain migration vulnerable to exploitation on the wage front. Posibly their arrival/proliferation on our retail strips is also a result of other bricks and mortar shops being killed by the internet.
DeleteThe real photo is better than the AI version, which is nice enough. You will have to google for images of French Tips to properly see them. Soon enough Phoebe will be too big for the green chair...
ReplyDeleteThe real girls are so much lovelier than the other version. That's hilarious about the chairs. Wars have broken out over less!
ReplyDeleteThis could have been my sister and me at that age. I can't remember a Chairgate but we certainly had our own -gates!
ReplyDeleteIt is a time when children need to assert themselves, part of a learning process and often clashing with expectations from siblings, parents, teachers and others.
Did you ask the owner of Phoebe Nail why she omitted the s?
It is the same here, all owned and staffed by South East Asians. I get pedicures but I always have to tell them to cut my toenails shorter. They shape them to look nice but no one ever really sees my feet, so I just want them short.
ReplyDeleteOh how they have both grown so much. It feels like a journey where we've walked alongside you.
Tantrums are best stopped by a slap to the face, and the shock of the blow stops all the nonsense.
Shame on you Andrew! A slap to the face? That way the girls never learn to work things out and compromise, maybe even to work out a sharing regime.
DeleteNot at all sure about your proposed solution to tantrums, Andrew.
DeleteI dont get this craze to get nails done at £45 a pop. I'm content yo do my own. But Phoeb must have been pleased to see her name in lights so to speak.
ReplyDeleteTake both chairs away and make them sit on the floor!!
ReplyDeleteThe real treat, is getting your toenails trimmed and your feet softened. Try a pedicure, you might enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteYour granddaughters are so beautiful and they've grown so much.
ReplyDeleteJack would love to have a brother or sister that lives here but he has no idea how much they would fight, and I'm not taking in any more children:)
As for nails, I've never had a manicure in my life and feel no need to ever get one.
Nails are a big thing here too. Their decoration has become an art form.
ReplyDeleteThose girls are darling. All siblings have to disagree at times. It's in the manual.
I guess no one does their own nails anymore, just like no one makes their own coffee! (And in both cases, the product has become much fancier than it used to be.) Funny how kids get so attached to routines and their "place" to sit. I remember fighting with my brother about stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Boud that the real photo is much better than AI. Their natural beauty is so much better than the fake picture.
ReplyDeleteWho ended up on on the green chair?
There is a theory that in times like now people are keen to splash what little cash they have to pamper themselves in an attempt to feel better and in some kind of control, when all around them everything seems out of control. Nails, tattoos, eyebrows, cheap clothes.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that the nails are referred to as “acrylic claws”. Goodness only knows how people manage with them.