Yesterday Ann asked me to go with her to a factory warehouse sale in Mascot. And so we did, arriving at a little after 9am. I like shopping but not this kind of shopping and pleasant as Ann's company is, there is something about an industrial unit filled with tables of garments and luggage and handbags that is dread-inspiring. It was also hot and crowded and women kept eyeing the handbag that Ann had given me to hold, as if I might relinquish it under duress.

But the train journey there and back was lovely and I reconnected with Terrill's Madame Mao, after a few weeks off reading it. We also lunched well at Buddha Boy in Parramatta. I've been eating a lot of Thai in the city lately and this place was comparable in quality.

(Below) Detail from a study by Hieronymous Bosch on the hellish effects of shopping....