The Genesis of Rococo

‘Whatever made you think of opening a chocolate shop?’ I have lost count of the number of people who’ve asked me that. To me the answer is so obvious I am amazed that anyone need ask. I have always been obsessed by chocolate, as far back as I can remember, and I thought that everyone dreamed of opening their own chocolate shop. Perhaps they did, when they were small, but then forgot about it or got sensible and decided to follow conventional careers. My dream was recurrent; many a time I walked through landscapes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where the trees were swathed in sweets, blades of grass made from soft minty sugar, and rivers filled with molten chocolate. Each time I picked the sweets, gathered them in my skirts and returned home to hide them under my pillow, so that they would be there when I awoke. So vivid were these dreams, so bitter the disappointment on awaking and finding nothing.