A Week In The Life

Self-employment - living the life of Riley. Getting up late, spending all day in pyjamas, daytime TV, surfing the net, girly lunch dates and going out every night.  That's what many people think when I tell them what I do for a living. You already know that our weekends consist of getting up early, travelling up and down the country, packing and unpacking the van, setting up our pitch and selling our hearts out but here's how I typically spend my more mundane week days.

Monday's outfit: 1970s psychedelic maxi skirt by Jeannie Jersey (Georgia-May's Vintage Wardrobe), Fringed body suit (Charity shop, 2013), 1960s suede waistcoat (Xmas present from Liz), Original Biba lace-up boots (Inherited from Mum)

Monday. Up at 6.30am, had breakfast, dressed and reorganised the stockroom while Jon dealt with the heating engineers who were servicing the boiler. Sorted out some recent buys, measured and labelled them. A friend had picked up a few things of interest recently and, as she was in need of a vintage fix, browsed the rails, we exchanged goodies and chatted for an hour or so over coffee. After lunch Jon & I went across the road to my empty parental home (where we store our stock), unpacked the van and added the freshly sorted stock to the rails. I did some mending, caught up with blog reading and wrote a blog post. Had a bath and tea. Carried on with the dressmaking project I'd started on Friday. Caught up with a couple of Scandi TV thrillers. Read The Silent Game by Greg Iles in bed.

Tuesday's outfit: Vintage lurex maxi (courtesy of Kerry), Hindi print tee (Kerala, 2012), 1970s tooled leather bag & blue suede belt (car boot sale finds), Blue fake fur jacket (£7, Catalogue clearance shop, 2012), 1960s navy leather gloves (were my Mum's), Tapestry boots (Charity shop, 2008), Tribal jewellery (India)

Tuesday. Up at 6.45am and loaded the washing machine. After a Wii Fit workout put a couple of stained vintage dresses in to soak and altered a 1960s mini by hand. Rinsed the soaked frocks and hung all the washing up. Had breakfast, dressed and walked into town as I had appointments booked with banks to close Dad's accounts. Picked up a pair of shoes I'd left at the cobblers, shopped for a few essentials (toothpaste, mouthwash & soda crystals) and browsed the charity shops before walking back. Had lunch. Printed off the probate & tax forms from the government website and started to complete them. Phoned & chatted to the undertakers with our choice of music for the funeral. After a shower and tea caught up with some blogs and hand-sewed hooks and eyes missing from a couple of dresses in the stock room. Watched BBC 1's River and read a little more of my book in bed.

Wednesday's Outfit: 1970s leather trench coat (eBay, 2004), vintage beaded panda bag (charity shop), floppy felt hat (car boot sale), 1970s leopard print platforms (eBay, 2011). Not a fan of lap dancing clubs but love the nod to the Bollywood movie of the same name.

Wednesday. Up at 6.30, did a Wii Fit workout & ironed and put away yesterday's washing. Dusted, swept and tidied the lounge and watered the house plants. Dressed and had breakfast. Too wet for car booting so we visited the charity shops in a couple of nearby towns. Dropped more of Dad's papers off at the accountant on the way home. Had lunch. Checked over the purchases, replaced the plastic buttons on a couple of waistcoats for some better-looking vintage ones and put everything in to wash. My brother came round on his way back from work as the civil celebrant was coming to discuss Dad's funeral next Tuesday. Chatted about my Dad's life and adventures. After they'd both left I had a bath and we had tea. Opened the rum and watched Salvage Hunters & The Apprentice, texting Curtise throughout the latter. 

Thursday's outfit: 1960s jumble sale curtain I made into a dress; Vintage Dolcis leather knee boots; 1950s leopard print coat and 1930s velvet fringed scarf (all charity shopped); arm warmers (Topshop sale, 2003)  That's most of the car boot finds in the van, including the bass amp. 

Thursday: Up at 6.30, did a Wii workout & cleaned and mopped the utility room. Went to the morning car boot sale. Some regular traders told us that they'd got some chairs that were our kind of thing so we took their phone number and arranged to call them later.  On the way back home we stopped off at the undertaker's to drop off Dad's suit and at the florist to organise the funeral flowers. I unpacked our purchases, put the clothes in the washing machine, polished the shoes & handbags and steamed the hats while Jon cooked veggie sausage sandwiches. After we'd eaten I priced and ironed yesterday's finds and dyed my roots. Swept & dusted the dining room, called the car boot traders and drove over to their unit to check out the chairs which we loved and bought. Jon cleaned them outside and we rearranged the lounge to fit them in. After tea and a bath chatted to Krista via Skype and watched Unforgotten.

Our fabulous vintage chairs!

Friday. Up at 7 am, after a Wii Fit session I ironed and priced yesterday's car boot buys and hand sewed the hem of a skirt that had come down during washing. Stripped the bed, chucked it in the washer and got dressed. Had breakfast. Went to a mid-morning jumble sale, which was dreadful but met up with a blogger friend who'd come across some cool stuff for me on her travels. Popped to Lidl and the Post Office (to get some change for the weekend's float) on the way home and wrote & published a blog post while Jon made lunch. This afternoon we'll pack the van for Oxford. I'll cook a veg Kadai using the mushrooms bought from the car boot sale yesterday whilst Jon makes sandwiches to take with us tomorrow. Then I'll shower, paint my nails and sort out what I'll be wearing. We'll have a rum and coke, watch Mammon on catch-up and go to bed. The alarm is already set for 5.30am.

Friday's Outfit: Vintage lurex maxi (from Australian blogger Nelly who stopped posting years ago), 1970s leather jacket (bought from a charity shop in 1992), tooled leather bag (Car boot sale), Indian tote (India)

New to the womenswear rails this week. Clockwise from top left: 1960s linen maxi by Linzi Cruise Line from County Clothes of Cheltenham; Scottish mohair cape; 1970s Embellished maxi; 1960s sleeveless wool mod dress (I removed the tatty sleeves and sewed bias binding to the armholes earlier this week); Louis Caring psychedelic lace-up midi; dagger collar check shirt; Quad silk maxi; Tooled leather bag; Mexican cowboy boots; 1980s Thai silk jumpsuit; Kangol wool hat; 1950s Chinoiserie jacket. 

So that's life in the week. Shopping is strictly business, there's no stopping for coffee or pub lunches, we have to account for every penny and eat at home every day. There's no time for sightseeing, museums and country walks, when we're not hunting, we're trading. Our social life is a shadow of what it used to be - our friends are nine to fivers so for them going out on a week night is pretty much out of the question and for us, going out at the weekend is impossible. That's why we look forward to our annual month in India so much! We wouldn't have it any other way.

New to the menswear rails this week: snazzy waistcoats, jazzy 1960s cardis and a Texan-made shirt

Jon mostly does the cooking and I do the washing & the house gets cleaned when one of us feels like it (more than usual this week as we're expecting visitors after the funeral). We shop for stock almost every day, the washing machine is constantly on and repairs are done at any time of the day (or night!) I only turn on the TV to watch pre-selected programmes and the internet is accessed from my PC (I don't have a smart phone) so blog reading and social media is done when I'm at home and can snatch a few minutes.

Vintage 1950s fake fur capelet; 1930s leather bag;Roland Cartier lace-ups;1980s felt fedora; North African tooled leather bag; Cheltenham Racecourse trilby; 1950s snakeskin clutch bag.

All this newly-found vintage (and loads more) will be on our stall (HERE & HERE) this weekend.

See you soon.

PS Linking to Patti's Visible Monday