Splash, the Liverpool Arts and Crafts Shop owned and run by the artist Deborah Butler (on Greenbank Road)

Plug! I've not been on top of things lately which is entirely unlike me and one of the things I wasn't on top of was the buying of a birthday card in that I entirely forgot. Without the time to go into town and only Smithdown Road in Liverpool at my disposal I found myself strolling quickly up and down the streets between the cafes and computer repair shops desperate for something tasteful.

Having bought a standby only if I'm really desperate apparently Balamory inspired picture of a bridge at a newsagent I'd finally convinced myself to visit to the Tesco Express, actively hoping that there wouldn't be anything there either simply because the worst element of not being on top of things and a snob like me is that you might end up giving a supermarket bought card to someone you care about.  I was right.

On exiting Tesco, resigned to giving the bridge, I spotted across the road what seemed initially like a mirage and turned out to be a life saver in the form of Splash, the Liverpool Arts and Crafts Shop owned and run by the artist Deborah Butler, which inside has racks and racks of greeting cards.  I bought I nice photograph of rocks and mist in Cornwall and a card with an offcut of one of Deborah's paintings stuck on the front.

Deborah was behind the counter.  Painting.  Big canvas, colourful.  I told her how she'd "saved my life" and how she should have a sign up on Smithdown Road so that people know she's hidden around this corner and promised to write about her and her shop on my blog.  We swapped business cards and that was that.  I ended up giving all three cards to the someone I care about.  She really liked the bridge.