Every now and again, my wife shocks me. Saturday was one of those days. On a rare afternoon without any responsibilities and with an ayi to look after our daughter for a few hours, Savvy suggested to me that we get a manicure. The two of us. Together. Now I’ve been known to enjoy the odd pedicure, particularly if it involved a foot massage, but Savvy had a bad experience the last time she went in for a manicure a decade ago. Looking at her graceful and delicately tapered fingers, you wouldn’t notice anything amiss, it’s not like the end of a finger was lobbed off when she got her last manicure, but whatever it was, she swore them off and has been content to care for her own nails at home ever since.
So with that history in mind, it was a surprise to find the two of us walking into Lily Nails in the Sunny Gold Market in Lido on that blustery afternoon. When we arrived, a couple of ladies were in the throws of nail pruning, skin rasping, and cuticle hedging. There were no cries of pain and they seemed happy with the process, so we settled into the overstuffed recliners and awaited our fate. It wasn’t long before our feet were soaking in hot water and the nail technicians descended upon us.
Eventually, Savvy settled on a full manicure and pedicure with matching nail polish for RMB 100. Though tempted to get a different color for every nail, in the end I went with the more manly simple trim and buff for RMB 70. The entire process took under 30 minutes for me, but I was disappointed that a foot massage was not part of the package. With Savvy still getting her fingernails attended too while the technician kept encouraging her to relax, I headed out for a cup of tea and a scone. Waiting wasn’t so much nail biting as it was a bit boring. Maybe next time I’ll get a cool custom paint job done on my nails. I wonder if they can do lightning bolts. That would look pretty butch, right?
