Drawing a line

Shopping in a small-ish town can remind one of Haydn's Farewell Symphony, in which, as his or her part ends, each player leaves the platform, until only one is left.

One by one, small independent shops are closing, their premises being filled by 'chain' shops or charity outlets.

Here in Leamington this month brought the demise of Blackie's, a well stocked art supplies shop. Hey ho.

On The Parade, our classy 'main drag', there remain just two independent shops - an upscale leather goods retailer and Harways, a traditional-looking (I've not ventured inside) purveyor of ladies' underwear - I have a feeling that the word corsetiere may be appropriate.

Water, water

Shopaholic Mr Gnome can rarely resist a new product.

Browsing through his local branch of the ubiquitous cash chemist, he noticed these wee spay canisters (just his size).

Mr G was intrigued by the possibility of frequent cooling bursts of spray at the press of a button. A boon on a sultry summer afternoon.

Hurrah! And at £3.89 for a can-ette containing 125ml, pricy, yes - but well worth it for exposure to the cooling hyper-sophisticated formula within.

But before reaching for his groats, he checked the ingredients. Sorry, ingredient.

Aqua?

Hmm, that works out at, er, £31.12 per litre of 'aqua'.

Boots are doing a tap dance.