So, I just trudged out into the kiln, across the car park to the little shop, in search of some tampons. Call me an idiot, but as a little shop in an office car park, I'd expected them to stock some feminine essentials. I do have some back at the Iransion, but as we left in a bit of a hurry (our new laserbeam flatmate drove us to work) I forgot to pack them. Anyway, I don't know why I was surprised to find that in spite of this tiny little shop having an entire back wall full of sanitary towels, stashed away out of sight like dirty porn magazines, there were no tampons in sight. Anywhere.

I don't know what to do, quite frankly. I've only been here two weeks. I can't very well go round asking everyone if they've got a tampon. And I'm sure as hell not buying a massive wad of sanitary towels - they come in packs as big as nappies. I'd have to take a shopping trolley down with me to bring them back up to the office. They definitely wouldn't fit in my bag. And anyway, other people might think it's ok to wear a 'nappy' under their skirt in 40 degree heat, but I'm afraid I draw the line there. I think most of my girl friends would agree, there's just no way.

I don't really understand what the little shop has got against tampons. Maybe they've got some out the back, but I don't fancy trying to mime what I need to the man behind the counter, really. He's very sweet but he barely understood when I said I wanted some Pepsi.

I do find these fabric conditioners rather amusing, though.