Adventures In Charity Shopping - The 2017 Edition

My first charity shop buy of the year....and, shock, horror it's not even vintage!

Aside from being younger than the contents of my spice cupboard, this TopShop floral tee ticks all the boxes, the right fit (which is madness considering it's a UK Size 6 - no wonder there's an obesity crisis, nobody has a clue what size they are anymore), super soft velvet devoré, the £36 tag still attached and priced at just £1. I'd been pondering on what to wear this vintage quilted maxi skirt with and, combined with these Mary Portas Armery sleeves Liz gave me for Xmas, it all came together quite nicely.

Topshop tee (clearance charity shop), 1970s quilted maxi skirt (free from a fellow trader at Vintage Village at Stockport Market Hall as the zip had broken), Fringed suedette waistcoat (clearance charity shop), Vintage Pakistani bullion work velvet tote (jumble sale), Armery sleeves (gift), floppy felt hat (car boot sale)  

What else did I find on my travels? A fairly decent vintage fix which should tide me over until I next hit the chazzas....in mid-February!

Clockwise from top left: Spanish souvenir glasses and ice bucket set; "Feminine" 1970s maxi dress; Jaeger pleated wool midi skirt; 1950s Lotus leopard boots; "Feminine" blazer which matches the dress but a different size; Repro spice tin; 1980s Empress leather knee boots; 1960s patchwork leather bag; 1950s Clarks' boots; 1960s vinyl handbag

I'd drafted a post on the contents of my travel bag but I'm still waiting for the elusive eBay item. I've had an email confirming that it's on its way so hopefully I can publish it before I leave. 

Other than the last minute purchase I'm pretty much packed and ready to go. I've even sorted out what I'm wearing to travel in, which is a first. Deciding what to wear on a long haul flight takes more effort than choosing the entire contents of a month-long travel wardrobe. A normal person can wear a winter coat and boots to the airport, board the flight, arrive at their hotel, stick the lot in the wardrobe and forget all about it until they fly home. As we never stay in one place we have to lug all our belongings around with us, so what we take has to be as lightweight as possible but also keep us from freezing our tits off on the 4am drive to Manchester, the car park courtesy bus to the airport and the hideous air-conditioning at both the airport and on the flight.

I've gone for layers - cotton jersey maxi dress, a long sleeved Hindu print cotton tee, a cashmere cardi and a huge velvet scarf with baseball boots and knee-high socks underneath. Its complete madness to think that if I'd bought the Miu Miu cardi, Whistles scarf and Converse All Stars at their full retail price, they'd have cost £550 (pretty much the same as I paid for our flight to India). Luckily, all three came from charity shops for a combined total of £5. Fancy labels or world travel? No competition, really.

I'm the idiot at security who always holds everyone else up by pulling all my jewellery off at the last minute (I feel naked without it). This time I'm being sensible and wearing the bare minimum, my 3 favourite rings, a cuff I had from Liz's Mum for my 50th and this plated bronze, Turkish abeque bracelet.  

This was from philanthropic American company Accompany, who sell artisan made, fairly traded, global goods. A few weeks ago they emailed me and asked if they could send me a gift, with no obligation to write about it on my blog and I was thrilled to receive this. Their website is a joy, a virtual trawl of the best foreign markets in the world. I'm more than happy to promote an ethical business - it makes a change from all those "Dear blogger" emails I'm bombarded with trying to get me to flog dodgy Chinese-made dresses.

Hooray! The postman's just been, my travel bag is complete and there will be a packing post before I go. Before that I've got a celebratory date at Wetherspoons, it's my prosthetic hip's 11th birthday tomorrow.

See you soon!