by. On the way back, I noticed it again, and an
obsession was born. Being as the holiday was
also taken up by my obsessions with
both Nestle Man and the Feu Vert cat, I felt that I had to lay this one to rest
fairly quickly.
Fortunately, I was able to enlist the help of my loyal friend Big John, who
agreed to act as photographer when we returned to Quimper later that week. There
were six of us on the trip that day. Most of the group wanted to see the sights,
visit the ancient cathedral, or do some shopping. I wanted to go to Self Tissus,
and, being as it was between the car park and the town, nobody could stop me.
I decided I would have to get something from the shop, so in
I went, with Big John patiently
standing by to capture the moment that money
changed hands. After a quick look round, I found a tea towel
for 4.50€.
The tea towel itself has a sort of brown and blue beach scene with seagulls and
wooden posts on it. At the
counter, John caught the moment perfectly. Strangely, despite the camera flash
going off, the lady serving never even blinked. Disaster nearly struck
when she whipped a plain bag out from underneath the counter and started
to pack
the tea towel up. Fortunately John stepped in and asked whether we could have "a
bag with Self Tissus on". Despite the fact that he asked in English, she
still found one, and the obsession was laid
to rest.
In
retrospect, I think that this particular obsession was one of the most confusing for those
around me. In particular, Tessa repeatedly said, "But it's just a soft
furnishing shop, there's nothing special about it", completely missing the fact
that it was called Self Tissus, and had the Keep Britain Tidy man wielding a
shopping trolley for a logo. Spanner settled for the more irrefutable "Ian, you're
insane". Big John understood though, and his success at Self Tissus spurred him
on to further efforts in Feu Vert, and during the encounter with the second
Nestle Man in Abatsdecheval.
When Will it End?
I think it has. Getting the tea towel and the carrier bag seem to
have knocked it on the head, and that's probably no bad thing. After all,
there's always another obsession waiting in the wings.
Loose Ends
Play Along at Home
There are actually two branches of Self Tissus in Quimper. I visited the one at
the following address:
7, Boulevard Moulin au Duc,
29000 Quimper
Tel: 02 98 53 49 55
Apparently this particular branch is known as the Parking de la Glacière, which seems, oddly, to translate as "Car park of the refrigerator". There are another five branches across France.
Or, if you don't want to travel, try visiting Self
Tissus online at:
www.self-tissus.fr//.
Although, since I wrote this, the website seems to have vanished. I don't like
this, as it suggests that something might have happened to Self Tissus. If you
know what's going on, please
contact me.
