Here’s an example of some of the amazing goodies they have. I demanded these from my Mum for my birthday whilst we were in the shop:

And this magnetic blackboard clock is a great new surface area on which to stick up yet more pictures of Moose, and to occasionally write reminder messages to myself:

Pad does home and kitchen stuff as well as jewellery, garden and kids stuff. And it’s all so stylish, so retro, so cool. Hey, did I mention this shop is cool? Because it really, seriously is.

Actually, I don’t need to go to Manchester to spend money in their shop anymore as they now have a website at http://www.padwebstore.co.uk/default.asp. But until I have some spare cash, I’m going to try to pretend I don’t know about the site. It is the responsible thing to do, no matter how much I might covet these Marmite espresso cups:

Or the blue stripy monkey: 

These things are not, strictly speaking, necessities (at least that’s what I’ve been told). And, having recently spent a frankly astonishing amount of money acquiring the most gorgeous Great Dane puppy in the world, I am not supposed to be buying anything that’s not a necessity at the moment. Still, sometimes I can’t help wondering . . . if I wasn’t supposed to buy those Marmite cups then why do I want them so badly? Eh? I mean, I don’t even drink espresso . . .

But for anyone who’s not on a self-imposed spending ban, or who needs a good birthday present for someone, I would heartily recommend this little treasure trove of a shop.

In other news: summer is here. I know because when I woke up this morning, Erin had put his summer outfit on during the night: