can you please...

confirm that this purchase was absolutely vital? I stumbled over this funky washing powder box (What? You don't own one yet? Poor, deprived creature you!) last night at Butlers. TD agreed that it would be an incredibly stylish addition to our minuscule bathroom and a chic container for our DM own-brand washing powder. Oh, and it's sitting on top of the evil washing machine that kills mobile phones. It's a long story.

In front of the casino on Kärntner Straße, we bumped into Amica, hurrying towards the subway with her hungry twins in their super-cool pram. (it looks like this, only with two carry-cots). In the five or so minutes we were talking to her, 4 women stopped to look into the pram. First a Japanese lady who tried to convey her enthusiasm with gestures only and then theatrically waved good-bye. Next came a couple of old ladies, then a peroxide blonde in her fifties who turned on her heels in the entrance of the casino and basically shouted "Twins? So cute! I have a one-month-old grandchild myself, you know." It was like the old "customers attract more customers" rule. Amica told us that it was like that wherever she went with the twins. The cool pram apparently attracts Italians in particular (why does this not surprise me?) and one young Italian couple recently got a bit carried away. The man asked if he could test-drive it and enthusiastically ran around in concentric circles with this Ferrari among prams while his wife/girlfriend took photos with her mobile phone...