A Trip to the Mall

The latest craze has made it to the suburbs of London - fish pedicures.  Can I get an eeewwwww and an ickity ick ick?  Somebody please pass me a bottle of Lysol or container of ammonia because just the thought of this makes me squeamish and germophobic.


A couple weeks ago, the family trekked over to the mall in nearby Kingston-Upon-Thames.  It's a pretty little drive of about 8 miles that takes you over the river and through the woods right by the front entrance of Hampton Court Palace.  I love shopping here because 1) a big chunk of it is an indoor mall 2) much of the area around the mall is filled with more cute shops on pedestrian-only streets 3) there are several parking garages so you never have to worry about finding a space and 4) we can get a meal of "American" food at the nearby TGIFriday's.  It's a win-win situation.  


Our oldest invited one of her friends to join us, momma of Percy the Pug pictured below.  Whenever the teen needs a ride to this friend's house, the youngest and I gladly oblige because we inevitably get out to give the pugosaurus some love.  He's about 7 and has some white on his mask, but is always game for attention.  She snapped some pics of him last weekend.  Isn't he a darling?

As soon as we got to Kingston and parked the car, we split with the teens.  They wanted to look at dresses.  The youngest wanted to head to the toy/arts 'n crafts store while the husband made a beeline to the bookstore.  I was in charge of keeping Cal occupied while everyone else was shopping at their leisure in stores they wanted to visit.  This doesn't really bother me so much anymore now that I'm a stay-at-home mom and can snoop through the stores while they're at work and school.  We all ended up back in Bentall's, the big anchor chain with escalators that run up the center of the store to all five floors.  Sure enough, this is where we found the teens.

Don't let that "Fish Massage" sign fool you.  This is what is really going on in the tanks.

Feet as fish food - gaaaaaaah!  That's right, folks, the little fishies nibble off dead skin on your tootsies.  

In theory I think it sounds fine, all eco-friendly and such.  But seriously, how sanitary is this?  It's not as if they can pour in some bleach and scrub down the tank with a scouring pad in-between each session.  And obviously there is no way for the little fish to brush their teeth and gargle with some Listerine after each meal customer.  Isn't this how things like the plague were spread back in the Dark Ages?  

I'll be interested in this new-fangled sort of pedicure as soon as the worker fishes grow some limbs and can massage my feet with freesia scented lotion.