Faring to France on a Shoe by Valerie Poore

 

 

After seven years of owning their barge, Hennie-Ha, seven years involving catastrophe and crisis, Val and her partner finally go 'faring' to France for the first time. This travelogue describes the places they visit and the people they meet along the canals on their route from the Netherlands, through Belgium and into northern France. It tells a gentle story about how they experience their life on board during the four weeks they spend cruising. Written as a journal, the reader joins them on their travels through rain and shine and reveals how day by day, Val learns to cast aside the stresses and demands of the real world and to appreciate life's simplest of pleasures to the full. And why 'Faring to France on a Shoe'? Well, download a sample and then all will be clear, or just have a 'look inside'!

RUMORS BOUTIQUE

“Rumors is Richmond's premiere thrift boutique, providing the south with pre-selected & pre-loved clothing for guys & girls. We buy, sell & trade clothing daily from our customers, handpicking each item to ensure we offer a wide & varying selection of  high quality clothing at starving artist prices.

We (owners Casey & Marshe) met at a party in 2003 and had a lemonade stand the following day to make enough money to get some Chinese food.

Fast forward a few years and you'll find us sharing a bedroom, teaching ourselves graphic design & living off of pretzels and white rice to save up for our boutique.

We opened Rumors doors in 2007 without owing anyone a dime, meaning we slept on the store's floor and showered at the YMCA. We opened as an independent boutique offering locally designed products, as well as exclusive international indie lines from countries such as South Africa, Colombia, Iceland, Belgium, Finland, Tokyo, France, that weren't available anywhere remotely close to Virginia. In our first year we had over 400 bands play in our shop, held fundraisers for over 25 nonprofits, and were exhausted, broke and loving our lives.

Months later, still young, broke & inspired by our friendship and our city, we revamped our store into Richmond's first thrift boutique. We are both grown up country girls, raised with hand me downs and thrift store shopping as our only options, so this change came pretty naturally. Three years later, we are still trading daily with the diversely fashionable community of Richmond, traveling the states in search of lucky finds and spreading as much positive energy as we possibly can.”

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