Yesterday - snowstorm (first of the year), today +15 and perfect spring weather. Went for a walk to soak up some sun, got no more than a block from home and ran into a tiny pink crepe-van. In a dead-end back-street middle of nowhere, only the few families and old people living around here passing by.
Uhhhh, it's a thing in a book (or movie) I read recently... well I'm sure it's actually a thing in many, but I'm thinking about, and can't-actually-remember, a specific case at the moment. A magic shop travels between universes and times; ran by a bent over gnomeish grumpy old geezer; pops into existence in brick walls in back alleyways; sells necessary-but-causing-all-sorts-of-havoc (magical) items to the customers who have wandered in while running away from someone or stepping in to get out of the rain or sth; and then vanishes without a trace. You know - one of those. Only in this case the characters are aware of this trope, some of them have actually, significantly, been in one before; also the shops are a profitable chain enterprise across all space-time, the shopkeeper really can't be bothered, and in the end the shop is sort of just used as a transportation device... Gaaah, it's going to drive me nuts, not remembering where it was. Pun intended. First thought was Hitchhiker, but haven't read that recently... Also sounds a bit like the irony of Discworld, but have been re-reading the entire thing, and, nope, not so far... Maybe from Daughter of.. series, but there was a big plot point around another type of interdimensional shop in that, so don't think, they'd toss in a second magic shop, right? Caraval, Deonn, SJM, Black, Grisha, Kingkiller none fit the style... Nor do any of the eastern, or fae stuff or romances... So something completely obscure? Grrrrr... Anyway, will continue this particular breakdown later.
Back to the 1.5 meter long van, that we initially pure-and-simple walked past, because (and THIS is definitely directly borrowed from Pratchett) the human brain is exceptionally good at not seeing things that should not be there. Noses and stomachs are not so easily fooled, though, and rang the alarm a few houses downwind, leading to the eventual discovery of the crepe-shop. Having decided to postpone lunch in favour of getting in a walk while it was warm outside, grabbing some extra calories in the form of a yakiimo-crepe was a no brainer and not a bit short of an actual magical saviour-of-the-day, since it was about 15:30 at that point and the "lunch" finally made it to table at around 18:30. And no, the park we were headed to doesn't even have a drinks machine, not to mention any food, nor do any of the streets in the vicinity... Usually.
The crepe itself was also a new experience. Chose the sweet potato, because, firstly, it was recommended by the shopkeep (a young girl, not an old geezer, though), and, secondly, it was one of the few that didn't contain neither the plastic stuff out of a tube that around here they claim is whipped cream, nor a chemical "berry"syrup. What it DID have were actual slices of buttery-soft yakiimo. Which was actually tasty. Still wondering what the crispy bits in the middle could have been, though. And also Murphy, because I'd eaten 2 whole yakiimos yesterday, with another two in the middle of being cooked for dinner, errr, lunch of today. But oh well.
Ah yeah, and the van did display a sign claiming to be in business 3 days this month. Well, I'll believe it, when I smell it. Because the habits of this kind of shops, you know...
(Also, my magical happenings in Japan tend to keep involving yakiimo, have you noticed... D gets all the summoning of Cthulhu and meditating tanukis and stuff...)
Cheers,
Hedi
