Life in Miniature

I'M very excited. I'm counting the days until my holiday. We are off for ten days in the sun, staying with my mum in Cyprus with flights we paid for with Tesco vouchers. There are 25 days to go! And thanks to modern technology we have already chosen our seats on the aeroplane and checked in online.

This is Scout, a miniature horse that works as a guide horse. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of course this means now I am planning and packing and inevitably going away is an excuse to do some shopping. Today my friend and I popped into Watford and while she picked up the bits she needed in Boots I got distracted by the Holiday Shop area and browsed round bikinis I don't need, sunglasses I can't afford and hunted in vain for a spray to protect my not-quite natural blonde hair from the sun, sea and sand.

And then I spotted the display of miniature toiletries.
I don't know why but I can never resist things in miniature. Horses, model villages and, it seems, tiny weenie tubes of toothpaste.

They were all on offer - buy two get one free- and I was like a kid in a sweet shop. I sprayed and squeezed and sniffed and spluttered and finally chose a mini toothpaste and travel fold-up toothbrush for the aeroplane and a gorgeous Sanctuary spray body oil for post tanning moisturising.

On the way home we stopped at a supermarket where I discovered another travel minis range - and had to tell myself firmly to back away from the tiny bottles of shampoo and body wash.

I have a collection in my bathroom of miniatures with a little bit of their original contents left in them. I always intend to refill them so I can reuse them myself or send them with the children when they go on brownie camp, field trips and sleepovers.

Although generally as most parents know you can send toothpaste, shampoo and bodywash and no matter how much you lecture your child about having at least one shower during their week away the products will generally come back untouched still wrapped in a bone-dry flannel.

I have tried to refill them but even using the same product the little teeny openings are too small to pour gloopy gel or lotion into and all you do is cover the outside of the bottle, your hands and the carpet whilst only managing to get around 2ml of the stuff actually inside the bottle.

I'm sure someone out there has a bright idea about making a funnel or using a baster-type instrument for efficient and economic refilling but actually I am quite glad of the excuse to go to the chemist every time we go away and buy yet another selection of  unnecessary, but totally cute little tubes, jars and bottles. It's all part of the build-up to the holiday!

25 days to go!
"25" (Photo credit: Lincolnian (Brian))