Yesterday was one of those days when we popped to the pub to meet a friend for a few drinks and lunch, only to stagger out eight hours later singing Smiths songs, arm in arm with a total stranger.
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| What I wore yesterday: Vintage 1970s elephant & Indian temple print maxi (courtesy of Curtise), flashy but trashy coin choker (eBay), metallic space boots (TopShop, January 2017 sale) |
It was a strange day, what with the unseasonably warm temperatures (apparently the hottest October day since UK records began) and, due to Saharan sand blown over with Storm Ophelia, the sun cast an eerie orange glow in the sky. Over the weekend hundreds of fans went on the rampage after a boxing match at Walsall Town Hall went bad, tragically culminating in the fatal stabbing of a 19 year-old spectator (link HERE). As Wetherspoons is next door to the town hall the beer garden was cordoned off while the police continued their search for the murder weapon which, understandably, led to a rather sombre air but, despite this, the pub was full to capacity, more like a Friday night than a Monday lunchtime, as two of the other town centre pubs had been closed due the ongoing enquiries.
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| What I'm wearing today: Vintage 1960s Crimplene maxi dress (Clothes Show Live, 2009), Vintage 1960s go-go boots (Car boot sale, 2010), Antique velvet jacket (£3, charity shop, last seen HERE), Plum wool trilby (£1.99, Aldo via the charity shop) |
As usual, the time flew. We bumped into a pal we'd last seen at a festival over the summer and chatted to a day tripper from Birmingham who we bonded with over 1980s indie music, obscure films and vintage clothes. We contributed to a collection for a floral tribute to the murdered young man started by Manjit, one of the (unofficial) 'Spoons Monday Club and, as usual, giggled at the inebriated pensioners declaring their undying love to me, Bab, you'm* the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I devoured vegetarian sausages with mash and peas whilst Jon attacked a huge burger and chips. Our last pint for the road ended up as another two and a half more.
*You am - Black Country dialect for you are.
*You am - Black Country dialect for you are.
We walked back braving the ferocious gale force winds and were home just in time to catch the last part of the BBC's gory time-lapse thriller, Rellik (sadly, the ending was a bit of a let down) and afterwards, having a quick tidy up before bed, realised that I couldn't find the bag Jon was carrying earlier in the day. With a jolt he realised that he'd left it under the table in 'Spoons.
A frantic phone call later and the bag was located by the shift manager - What's in the bag? Just so we know we've got the right one She asked. A pair of extra large brown suede lederhosen, Jon replied. Funnily enough he was otherwise engaged this morning so I had to call in to collect the bag from the manager's office in 'Spoons on my own. I don't think the staff will ever look at us in the same way again.
Just for the record we don't usually walk around with plus sized Bavarian clothing in our possession but if you spot something in the chazza shop opposite the pub, you've just got to buy it when you can, haven't you?
Storm Ophelia's managed to bugger up our boiler and the crucial element needs to be ordered in. Bloody typical now the temperature's dropped, isn't it? Never mind, the wood burner is on and we've still got a few wet wipes left over from the festival season. I'm sure we'll survive!
Linking to Patti & the gang for Visible Monday.
See you soon.
That poor young man. RIP.
ReplyDeleteI thought the final episode of Rellik was total pants. I had been so enjoying it up to then...yesterday's weather was very weird.
Love your maxi dresses and the purple velvet jacket is beautiful - you look very glam and sophisticated so I'm not surprised you get declaration of love from strangers!
Glad John got his lederhosen back...
Have a lovely week.
Yes, I was very disappointed with Rellik's ending. I bet they've left it open for a second series. xxx
DeleteA man murdered over a boxing match? Words fail me.
ReplyDeleteYes wasn't the weather peculiar yesterday, the last time the sky went so dark during daytime was the 1999 eclipse.
You look great in that hat and I like your mirror image snap, very clever...picmonkey?? Went on there yesterday and couldn't proceed without forking out, so abandoned my collage.
People will start talking about you....leaving lederhosen lying about and operating a business named Kinky!! XX
One of our friends says that he'd been to a few boxing matches with his workmates but stopped going as they always broke out into fights between the fans. Savages.
DeleteI'm not sure if the Picmonkey filter is a free one or not - it's called "Mirror". I pay the whopping $4.99 monthly fee. xxx
I bet that is the first time anyone left lederhosen there....ha ha ha. Love that story. I hope you get your boiler fixed, thank goodness you have the wood heater
ReplyDeleteI bet they've found a few odd parcels in Spoons but I reckon our pair of lederhosen might have been the first!
DeleteHooray for wood burners and by strange coincidence Jon had spent a few hours over the weekend chopping wood while I foraged the garden for pine cones. xxx
The title of this post is so funny, I wasn't quite prepared for the serious tone at the start - that's awful about the violence and it leading to loss of life. Utterly devastating.
ReplyDeleteYou look amazing in that dress, the velvet is really sumptuous. Sounds like you had a really fun time in Spoons. Glad the bag was retrieved. When I was on hols in Spain last month I accidentally left a supermarket bag of mini bottles of cava in the street somewhere. I retraced my steps but it was gone. Ah well, I hope it quenched a deserving soul's thirst!!
xx
Its awful. sadly Walsall's always had a reputation for violence during the weekends - there's pages of You Tube footage dedicated to it. We haven't had a death for a while though.
DeleteFancy leaving your booze in the street - that would have been a real catastrophe. I bet the finder was happy. xxx
Wild day out in fab clothes! I love inebriated pensioners, I am occasionally one myself! I am now yearning veggie sausages, mash and peas with a pint. Neil's coming this weekend, I shall save it until then.
ReplyDeleteHaha! I do hope you manage to be one when Neil visits at the weekend. The bangers & mash are lovely as is the chickpea, spinach & sweet potato curry (yes, two Wetherspoons' dinners in one week...the decadence!) xxx
DeleteOoooo!
ReplyDeleteLoving all those purples, plums, & muted pinks! And metallic accessories- bomb!
Another day another riot- just got back from Kashmir where they're - you guessed it- rioting! There's a mad braid chopper on the loose in Kashmir! (Yes, it is as weird as it sounds)
xox
Thanks, Bibi! Welcome back.
DeleteThe braid chopper sounds like someone from Victorian London, I hope they catch him. xxx
The lederhosen sind vergessen tale will undoubtedly become a standard in the "visits by Vix and Jon" history at that Witherspoons. (Those who know you well won't even ask...)
ReplyDeleteThe steampunk jackette is exactly the shade of my favorite fall mum! Who needs jewels when one can wear gem-stone colored velvet? And who would have guessed -- besides yourself -- that space boots could be so useful?
Metallic boots must be a neutral, they seem to go with everything.
DeleteI'm really drawn to that shade of plum at the moment, I managed to snag myself another charity shop hat in the same colour this week. xxx
What a tragic end to such a short life.
ReplyDeleteThe sky and sun yesterday was amazing. It was exactly two years ago that I was in the Sahara, I feel like it came to me this time :)
What a sod about your boiler, it never happens in the warmer months does it, I hope it's sorted soon!
I bet it was a wonderful reminder of a fabulous trip. I loved trekking the Sahara, too although eating a fried camel fritter after mistaking it for aubergine certainly wasn't a high spot!!
DeleteBloody boiler. Three days without heat or hot water wasn't fun. xxx
You had quite a day! I've been watching the Ophelia coverage on the news - scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with the elephant dress! (they're my favorite animal) Of course it looks amazing on you, as does the purple.
Stay warm!
We don't usually get much extreme weather in the Midlands so it was a bit of a novelty! xxx
DeleteDo you know that sad thing about your post. I didn't flinch when you said someone was murdered in the street. I guess that I lived in Glasgow for too long. Pretty much par for the course after any big sporting event there. How sad though.
ReplyDeleteI love your outfits. You really suit all those fabulous jewel tones and look amazing in them. Your hat is a perfect match. Wasn't the sky odd? The sun here was blood red then orange, and the sky was very dark orange-grey, almost like night. Signs & portents? Who knows? I love your lederhosen. They are absolutely fantastic. What a find and so lucky that they were still in the pub. I bet you gave the staff a right laugh. Unexpected boozy nights are the very best. You have good taste in drunken carousing. :) Xx
Isn't it awful? Violence is so commonplace these days. I had no idea that boxing matches incited the crowds to such an extent, not that I'd go to one in a million years.
DeleteThere's something about those colours at this time of year. It must be the Virginia Creeper I can see from the window subliminally inspiring me. xxx
What a horrible thing to have happened right on your doorstep ... As for your Monday, it seems it was far more exciting than mine: visit to the dentist then spending the rest of the day on my own in the office. The funny thing is I've had a Smiths soundtrack running around in my head for the last two days! Those twin photos are fabulous, and so are both of your outfits. But oh my, those lederhosen, aren't they outrageous! Can't really blame Jon for being otherwise occupied and leaving you to pick them up from 'Spoons! xxx
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome to join us for Monday club, you have great taste in music so you can join our singalongs!
DeleteI was a bit dumbfounded at finding the lederhosen in a Walsall charity shop, I suppose someone went to celebrate Octoberfest and decided when he got home that he wasn't going to wear them again. xxx
That is awful about the man being stabbed. Pretty amazing that everyone was still out at the pub.
ReplyDeleteI am in LOVE with your elephant maxi! WOW! Curtise chose perfectly.
The weather is so weird this year. The day before yesterday I walked the dog in shorts then yesterday it dropped 24 degrees and I froze. Today it is more seasonal at 19 C but windy.
I hope your boiler gets fixed quickly.
The story of the lederhosen is hilarious!
I also had some old dude hitting on me at the thrift store this morning. Gone are the days when the young hunks hit on me.
Suzanne
Nothing stands in the way of Walsall people and their daytime drinking. There was a few grumpy faces, the pub opposite does a particularly rowdy Monday lunchtime karaoke so the regular clientele had to endure Wetherspoons' no music policy and make conversation instead!
DeleteI think the average age of my would be suitors is around 70 these days, I probably dress like the women they chased in their prime! xxx
Lots of angry people out there, willing to kill over nothing. We had someone run down a garbage collector today because he was in his way. I just can't understand that level of rage.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the staff already have nicknames for you two, but now it will have lederhosen added.
Good god, what is the matter with people? It really is the rise of the idiot.
DeleteI dread to think what they say about us behind our backs but as long as they continue to serve me first when I'm standing in-line at the bar I'll let them! xxx
i sometimes wonder if there is a statistic somewhere about how many yards from a Wetherspoons your most likely to be murdered , there was one outside the Congleton one a while ago and it upset my mother because she was on her way for lunch
ReplyDeleteDoes Congleton have a 'Spoons? I imagined it to be posh!
DeleteA lot of the pensioners weren't happy that Yates's was closed and they had to drink in 'Spoons especially as our branch charges 10p more for a pint to keep the riff-raff out. xxx
Geez, quest Mother Nature didn't want you to feel let out and sent you a hurricane to. So far we've had 4.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear about the young man being stabbed. That should never happen, but if it was here (the USA) it would have been dozens shot. People are acting crazy.
Fortunately for us it was nothing compared to what you've endured of late.
DeleteYou're so right, imagine if the murdering bastard had been wielding a gun. It doesn't bear thinking about. xxx
We had a crazy storm here on Sunday afternoon and in some parts of the city trees were uprooted. That is terrible about the man being stabbed, but I have to agree with Thorne that if it had happened in the US, more than one person probably would have died from gunshots.
ReplyDeleteHow do you do that mirror image thing? I've given up on Pic Monkey since now you can't even do a collage for free. Glad no one swiped the lederhosen!
I was scared that one of our trees would be uprooted in those winds, thank goodness the only damage we had was a ripped car cover!
DeleteThe mirror image is called Mirror on Picmonkey. I pay for the upgrade 'cos I need the collage function. xxx
that glamorous life!!!
ReplyDeletethank you for that fun reading! i like to take it all - minus the boiler. even the lederhosen. oh my.
i´m smitten by the indian landscape dress! love such kind of prints. you look gorgeous in purple!!
much love! xxxxx
Never a dull moment around here! I'm currently typing on my PC admiring the Diwali fireworks from the Sikh gurdawara at the end of the street.
DeleteI love the print on that dress, Curtise has brilliant taste. xxx
yes - curtise makes fab clothing pressies - i miss her blogging......
Deletexxxx
Me, too! xxx
DeleteFab.photos Viv and the Lederhosen made me chuckle. It always reminds me of Winston Churchill in the Gathering Storm when he was trying to convince Paliament that hitler was building aircraft in his factories and he said 'what do you think they are making? Lederhosen? I always thought that meant stockings so thanks for enlightening me.xxx
ReplyDeleteha! i've never heard that quote, Sally! I like it. xxx
DeleteOnly you could leave lederhosen in Spoons :-D
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about the violence in your town. We have quite a lot in Trow. I often wonder if a lot of the problem is people not having enough fulfilling stuff in their lives. So many of the opportunities to express themselves have been taken away from working class people, increasingly the only option is consumption rather than expression.
Why couldn't it have been the bag of oranges instead? I could have lived without them!
DeleteI hate drunken violence. No matter how many I have I never feel the need to fight anyone but you're right some people have very bleak existences and it seems to be getting worse. xxx
Convenient that, Jon being to busy to pick up the lederhosen!!
ReplyDeleteI love the snippet of Black Country dialect, I went to a poetry reading once by Liz Berry, I absolutely loved the way she had written in dialect.
You've got me singing Smiths songs in my head now, they'll be there all day! xxx
Yes, very strange, wasn't it? I'll get him back!
DeleteLiz Berry is brilliant. If you get a chance check out our mate Brendan Hawthorne, he's the Poet Laureate of Wednesbury - there's a few of his performances on You Tube. xxx
I just went on You Tube to listen to your friend Brendan, he's great. Thank you, I enjoyed that xxx
DeleteHilarious! x
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it! xxx
DeleteYessssss! One for the road! Hours later and The Smiths lololol!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe story of my life! xxx
DeletePoor man. I can't believe how people get over sports.
ReplyDeleteThe Lederhosen was a brilliant spot. You know the folks attendin Oktoberfest will buy those. I picked up a beautiful purple checked Dirndl on the charity shop last year but alas was too small for me so I gave it to my friend Rosie and her friend borrowed it for Oktoberfest!
I know, it beggars belief. What a terrible waste of a life.
DeleteI bet that's where the lederhosen came from, bought for a trip to Oktoberfest. I think if they'd been mine I'd have kept them in case I ever went again, it seems a bit rash to give them away - I Googled the label and they retail at £75! xxx
Good that someone was spared the hurricane season-so many lives impacted this year. I need a good 'Spoons kind of day with friends.
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty lucky in the Midlands with our weather, thank goodness. It's usually just grey, drab and mediocre for 12 months of the year. xxx
DeleteSuch a shame about a young life wasted over such a trivial thing. Totally beggars belief.
ReplyDeleteWe escaped the ravages of the storm luckily, though Mark went and secured Monkeychild's trampoline down with a vengeance as we didn't want that to end up in a neighbour's garden!
An apt place to leave the lederhosen! Wonder if the staff tried it on?! xxx
Maybe that's why the Spoons staff couldn't look me in the eye, they'd been prancing about in our lederhosen after hours!
DeleteI was amazed there wasn't any damage after Monday's crazy wind, just a displaced car cover. This weekend's weather's looking a bit dodgy, isn't it? xxx
Such gorgeous colours! And lederhosen, wow! I wonder how they ended up in a Walsall charity shop!
ReplyDeleteI hope your boiler is fixed by now, we once had no hot water for two weeks ... in December! And again in the summer, which wasn't quite so bad, but even so, no hot water or heat is just not on! Thank goodness for new boilers.
So sad to hear about the tragedy xxx
Argh! No heat in December? How vile!
DeleteWe only had to manage for three days in the end - hooray! xxx