There I was thinking that the last year of my 50s would be fabulous but not only I have I lost the ability to walk but we woke up on Saturday morning to discover that Walsall had binned our Tory-led council (hooray!) only to replace it with something infinitely worse, Reform. God help us.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. On a more positive note, on Saturday I learnt that our ward was one of the few in the borough who didn't vote Reform (I knew we had the best neighbours). After a lie-in and a late breakfast, I donned the vintage wraparound skirt I'd altered the previous day and walked down to the Relay shop to pick up a Vinted parcel. The remainder of the day was spent gardening.
Browsing the latest National Trust magazine I was salivating over the recipe page and, as luck would have it, we had all the ingredients for this delectable carrot, parsley and mint salad with toasted pine nuts and raisins so Jon made it for tea.
On Saturday night, after watching the final installment of The Perfect Spy, we went through the films on the BBC i-Player and came across Bird, which we'd not heard of. As Jon quite rightly pointed out pointed out, Barry Keoghan doesn't do crap films so we weren't disappointed. It's a quirky coming-of-age film with shades of Kes and has a fantastic soundtrack featuring Fontaines DC, Blur and Sleaford Mods and had a surprise cameo from the marvellous Jason Williamson, frontman of Sleaford Mods.
My Vinted purchase was a recycled sari silk maxi dress from the fairly traded, ethical online boutique, Ian Snow. As these dresses retail at £55 I couldn't not buy this at £6 but, when I tried it on, it was more of a midi than a maxi so I had the genius idea of using the trimmings from the skirt I'd shortened on Friday along with the section I'd cut off another Indian block printed skirt I'd altered a few weeks ago - I never throw away fabric!
So not only a secondhand recycled sari dress but also a recycled skirt dress, you can't get more sustainable than that.
I couldn't resist posing in it on Sunday morning, although I changed into something more suited to gardening after I'd filmed my TikTok video.
Stephen Alley, as this pathway is known (after our beloved tuxedo cat) was virtually impassible until I got my secateurs and trowel out over the weekend. Walking might be a challenge, but sitting on a cushion, shuffling along on my arse whilst dragging a bucket behind me, I can manage.
It's getting there!
On Sunday night, on The Guardian's recommendation, we caught up with Widow's Bay, a comedy horror about a mayor (played by the always excellent, Matthew Rhys) who aims to turn a superstitious, haunted New England island into a tourist hotspot. It's seriously creepy and marvellously good fun. Jon reckons The Sea Hag is based on me, a supernatural entity who lives in the water, scratches men and with the scent of their flesh beneath her long fingernails, pursues them on to dry land, eventually consuming them.
Monday kicked off with an early morning swim. It was bitterly cold walking down to the pool and, to make matters worse, after we'd finished it started peeing it down and we were trapped in Spoons for almost an hour.
In hindsight, a floor length maxi wasn't the best choice for a soggy morning but I tied a knot in one side when I walked home to keep the hem from trailing along the pavement. As you can see, I treated myself to a gold cane (aka Pimp Stick) which compliments my gold Adidas trainers beautifully (not visible, you'll just have to take my word for it!)
With the weather too damp for gardening I touched up my roots (with Jon's help) before getting stuck into my next read. Good Me, Bad Me is a psychological thriller about 15 year old Millie, in foster care under an assumed identity after reporting her serial killer mother to the police.
I'm meeting up with a friend I've not seen in far too long tomorrow. I'll be back later in the week with photos.
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