We are in the Xenos and his gaze is on the storm...

…at the checkout there is a whole castle of I-don't-need-garden-stuff and behind us is a long line. ‘Oh shit, do we only have two of those chairs? I really want four. Wait, I'll quickly run back. She still has to scan everything.’ As I walk back, I feel exactly what kind of mood I'm in. The shopping mania. The crazy one. The person with a problem.

‘So…’, I come back. ‘I just saw this nice little table. And this rug.’ At this point, I know I shouldn't look at him anymore, as well as the line that has formed behind us. The cashier looks at me with a smiling gaze that I can't place. Do I sense a kind of pity? Or is she just happy that we're buying a lot? ‘That will be two hundred and forty-five euros and twenty cents please,’ I hear her say and from that moment on I realize that I was initially only looking for a picnic blanket and some lights.

Three quarters of an hour later we walk with the whole freaking Efteling to the car and at that point it comes: the shame. I avoid his grumpy gaze. ‘I really don't think this is normal, Kiki,’ he hisses at me. At that point, my childish self takes over. ‘Why? It's my money, right? Why are you even grumpy about that?!’

Once home, I drape the new acquisitions on the lawn and realize that they don't quite match well together. But of course, I'm way too proud to admit that. Especially in front of him. That elephant blanket seemed bigger in the store, and hmmm, that high tea stand might have been a bit too much. I try to comfort myself with the idea that I'm still happy with that reed-like table. But 25 euros, that was really a good buy.

Two months later and only now do I feel what actually went wrong that day. Only now do I feel that he has known me longer than today and was indeed right. Sorry sweetheart. I acted like an impulsive dragon. As punishment, definitely a three-month Xenos ban, deal?

Only it's a pity that I just don't have the right garden stuff – JUST KIDDING.