Gaby Book 18 - Summery

 
The replacement was much better, still yellow but a stronger shade broken by tiny white polka dots. It had a fitted bodice but the skirts were wider and needed a net underskirt, very fifties.

“I'll make the alterations, collect it after the weekend?” Dottie proposed.
I shrugged before replying, “I guess.”
Gerta had, miffed at my rejection of the first frock, gone back into the shop.
“Will Gerta be okay?” Con queried.
“She’ll get over it,” Dottie chuckled, “no one ever stands up to her, well done for that, girl.”
“Well you have to agree, it was pretty appalling,” I observed.
“I agree but don’t let Gerta know I said that.”

Con and I mimed zipping our lips.

“Bonn?” Con enquired once we’d escaped from my couturiers.
I checked the time, geez we’ve been in there over an hour, “Yeah we’ve got time, we should be able to get the next Express.”

We set off at a fast walk, we’ve got ten minutes to do a five minute walk so we don’t need to run.

“That first one,” Con stated again.
“It was awful wasn’t it,” I agreed,” really, what was that corset bit about?”
“Not exactly flattering.”
“Can’t say I'm that keen on the second one,” I admitted.
“Think it suits you, needs different shoes though.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”
“And what’s wrong with these?”
“Nothing but I reckon you should get some that are more, I dunno, delicate.”

Well I guess she might have a point, these don’t exactly fit the delicate description.

“Sugar, I left my trainers in the car.”
“Duh! I think pink hair is worse than blonde up here,” she tapped her temple.
“Guess I can manage in these,” I sighed.
“Well we’re not going back home whatever,” Con stated.

Looks like a fun afternoon.

“No school?” Myleen suggested.
“We’ve finished,” Con opined.
“You’ve done the Abitur already?”
“Uh huh,” I agreed.
“You scored okay?”
“Okay I guess.”
“Gab’s is too modest, she scored highest in the school,” Con blabbed.
“You did?”
“Er yeah,” I admitted.
“I'm impressed, I barely scraped a pass, what about you Connie?”
“Well I passed, Gabs is the brain box.”
“I'm not!”
She rolled her eyes, “Whatever you say, your highness.”
“So what’re you girls up to today then?”
“Shopping in Bonn.”
“Gab’s needs shoes and stuff for a wedding,” Con announced.
“Ah, Schuhstraβe,” Myleen knowingly noted, “you both going to college then?”
“Down in Koblenz,” I allowed.
“Guess I'll see a lot more of you then, looks like the Rheintal is already in.”

I think I've mentioned before, the trains are actually timetabled for the connection, we get a couple of minutes to change from Gleis three to one. Our train eased to a halt by which time we were waiting at the doors.

“Later girls,” Myleen called as we hit the platform.
“Laters!”

Look, you can’t hurry down stairs in ten centimetre heels, I hung onto Con for the descent then, now at the rear of the crowd of transferring passengers, managed a semi run to the other stairs.

“Come on, Gabs,” Con encouraged.
“I am,” I panted as we tripped up to the platform.

The bells of the Dom were striking twelve as we exited Bonn Hauptbahnhof amidst a crowd of other travellers.

“Where first?”
“Dinea,” I stated, “I'm starving.”
“Whatever, you should be the size of an Ox!”
“I've got a fast metabolism.”
“If you say so, come on.”

I was almost dragged across the crossing and up towards the centre.

When I said Dinea first I didn’t actually mean that.

“I thought you wanted to eat.”
“I do, five minutes?” I pleaded.
“It’s your stomach.”
“Yes!” my turn to drag Con, this time into Puppenkönig.

“I don’t know what you see in these things,” Con mentioned examining a tiny boxed gem.
“They’re, they’re cute.”
“Cute?”
“Well maybe not cute but like all the detail, it’s amazing, what you got there?”
Con turned the tiny packet over, “BMW two thousand two, tee, I, I.”
“Cool, that’s one of the ones I want.”

I took it from her and added it to the Audi Q7 and Fiat X1/9 I'd already found.

“That it?”
I looked longingly at the shelves, “Guess so, for today.”

Stairs and heels are not good, make that steep and spiral and I had a death grip on the bannister to return to the 0G, a few cents short of twenty two euros lighter in the purse. Flippin’ shoes. At the Karstadt they do at least have a lift and escalators which took us up to the 4G and the restaurant.

Being lunchtime it was quite busy but there were plenty of tables so we both grabbed trays and headed into the food hall. All the usual stuff was out of course but I was attracted by the daily special, pork strips in mushroom sauce with boiled rice.

“I'm gonna grab some salad,” Con advised.
“Get me some,” I requested.

“So you gonna wear a perücke then?” Con queried as we tucked into our respective lunches.
“Perücke?”
“For the wedding? Gerta said earlier you should wear a perücke for the wedding.”
“As if!”
“She does have a point, Gab, pink hair might be okay working in the cabin but a posh wedding?”
“They can take me as I come,” but do I want to be the one who stands out like a sore thumb? “maybe they can do something at the salon?”
“Chop it all off?”

That had crossed my mind but really, it’s a bit drastic and I like having long hair.

“I was thinking more like dyeing it again.”
“What, pink?”
“Duh! I dunno maybe back to blonde or maybe like red or something.”
“Red? Like the Feuerwehr?”
“I was thinking more natural like but I guess bright red would be pretty cool.”
“Really?”
“Nah, maybe blue?”
“Now I know you’re mucking.”

Karstadt isn’t exactly a teen shopping destination, well not for shoes and clothes so after lunch we headed outside to investigate the fashion boutiques. Okay we’re not really looking for party frocks but you never know what you’ll find in Orsay, H&M, Pimkie and so on. Indeed Con found a nice top in H&M, nice if you’ve got the bust, she has, I haven’t!

“Not seen that place before,” Con noted as we drifted along Schuhstraβe.
“Tammy Weile, sounds like a boutique.”
“What’re we waiting for?”
“My feet, I forgot these shoes aren’t that comfortable.” Indeed out of all my heels these are possibly the least comfortable, all my weight feels like it’s on my toes and after a bit they hurt.
“Well Deichmann’s are next door, you can get some cheap flats in there.”
Not that I need more flats but it’s a plan. “’Kay,” I sighed and allowed myself to be dragged towards the new store.

Despite the name, Tammy Weile isn’t a clothes shop, instead think Claire’s® but maybe a bit more, er, adult? Yeah there’s the same sort of stuff but not so much kiddy type stuff.

“Hey look, they have perücke,” Con informed me as we worked our way through displays of hair grips, barrettes and scrunchies.
“Great,” I allowed with little enthusiasm.
“How about this?” my BF suggested taking a Titian extravaganza from the wall.
“I was kidding about the red.”
“Oh come on, Gab, you should so try it on.”
What's the harm, “Okay.”

“There’s a lot of it.”
“It’s the curls.”
“If you say so,” I noted checking my reflection.

For future reference, red hair doesn’t suit me, well not this sort of red brown mix and certainly not with big wavy curls below my shoulders.

“How about this?” she had something closer to my natural colour in her hand.
“Go on then.”

I whipped the red curls off and swapped her for the blonde wig. No curls but straight and cut in a shorter style, it certainly weighed less.

“Now that’s you,” Con stated.
“You think? Feels a bit weird not covering my neck.”
“You have your hair up most of the time, it hardly ever covers your neck,” my fashion co ordinator pointed out.

I guess she has a point.

“Oh you should totally get it, Gabs.”
“Alright girls?” one of the shop assistants enquired joining us.
“Just looking,” I suggested.
“She’s thinking of getting this one,” Con cut in.
“There’s fifteen off the perücke today,” she offered.
“That's good eh, Gabs.”
“Er yeah.”
“I shouldn’t really do this but if you have a discount voucher I could give you an extra ten percent.”
“But we don’t,” I observed.
She flicked her fingers producing a slip of paper, “You do now.”

Maddy Bell © 07.01.17