The Distancing Diaries - 14th & 15th February, 2021

 On Sunday I was up first and discovered a present waiting for me in the kitchen so I put it to good use immediately, filling it with tea and taking it back up to bed where we lay and read until 8.30am.

Breakfast was toast eaten in front of The Andrew Marr Show. I spent the morning photographing and listing accessories on eBay and Jon did musical stuff in his room. 

If only that 1960s psychedelic bra was my size. Mind you, the box with a giant clown looming behind the model is enough to give anyone nightmares! 

I posed for an outfit photo just before the heavens opened and washed the remaining snow away. I was too excited not to wear the hat I'd made on Saturday afternoon. 

Sticking with my Wear:Sleep:Repeat challenge I rewore Saturday's Anokhi pinafore dress with my latest Amor Lux Breton top and a charity shopped leather belt. The vintage Elgee, London wool coat was Liz's before she'd had a clearout and sent it my way.

It had warmed up significantly so I cast aside the thermal leggings and bodysuit and belted my dress. I avoided belts for years, during my 20s a colleague had told me that the reason men were always chasing after me was that by emphasing my small waist I was sending out a subliminal message that I was fertile -  and there was I thinking it was my sparkling wit & lively conversation that attracted them! 

The details: Semi-precious bejewelled bracelets (one a gift from a fellow vintage trader, the other a 21st birthday present), 1960s Gohill's exotic snakeskin boots (which belonged to my junior school teacher), carnelian earrings (eBay) and a bit of proper British vintage label porn.

After our lunchtime noodles I looked out a book for this week's bedtime reading (have I ever mentioned by undying love for Harry Hole?) and then embarked on a bit of St Valentine's day sewing for Jon. 

'Cos nothing says I love you more than a neck pouch to keep your hand santiser in. I made it from the waistband of a knackered vintage skirt, a wooden button a friend gave me and the cord from an old blouse, the sanitiser was already in the house. As long-haul travellers and festival-goers, hand sanitiser has been a part of our lives since the dawn of time, we were probably the only people in the UK not flying off into a mad panic to stockpile it when we went into lockdown last year, it's always in the cupboard.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wrapping ebay parcels and catching up with blog comments. As is traditional for Valentine's Day we had a curry for tea, this was Sri Lankan-style with fresh cauliflower and spicy rice (we used a ready made curry sauce by award winning gourmet sauce producers Seasoned Pioneers, a treat from a friend). Back in the days when we used to work for a living we often used to order takeaways or stop off for a bag of chips when we'd done a 16 hour stint at a vintage fair or got back home after a festival. In the new normal way of living we haven't indulged since 2019 and I haven't missed them one bit. 

Later on, in preparation for Adam Curtis's new series of documentaries, I Can't Get You out of My Head, examining why people still keep falling for conspiracy theories, we watched Hypernormalisation (from 2016) on the I-player, so thought-provoking my head nearly exploded. I had to stop it halfway through and have an early night just to reset my brain.

On Monday morning I woke to thick fog. I did my Wii Fit workout, had a quick browse on eBay and spotted a fabulous vintage tunic that had just that minute been listed and snaffled it immediately. After our breakfast Jon went to the post office whilst I caught up with blogland.

Jon's a massive fan of vintage Farah Gabicci so, when they relaunched some of their 1960s back catalogue at the end of last year he bought a couple of pieces. Normally he'd be wearing them for days and nights out but with no prospect of that for the foreseeable future the post office had to suffice. The olive green tortoiseshell specs are vintage 1960s deadstock and made in West Germany, he had them glazed to his new prescription at Specsavers.

Wear:Sleep:Repeat saw the return of Sunday's Breton top, worn with my vintage Phool midi skirt and my newly acquired Anokhi jacket. Looking back at my collage I realise that I last did my roots on day 1 of my challenge, that's 36 days ago, no wonder my parting looks so awful! That's another job to go on this week's to-do list. How anyone can complain they're bored during lockdown is beyond me, I'm busier than ever. 

The details: Hexagonal frame sunglasses (Jaded, London 2018), Vintage 1960s-does-Edwardian boots (car boot sale, 2010) and chandelier earrings (roadside stall, Goa)

Jon spent most of the day composing in his room so I sorted out another suitcase of vintage bits and pieces from the Kinky Shed, photographing and listing it on eBay taking a break for noodles halfway through.

For the first time in a week we went for a walk around the block. It was lovely not to have streaming eyes and frozen faces, we even dispensed with our gloves. One of the neighbourhood houses being ruined modernised had reached completition with a posse of builders lounging on the roof singing along to The Stereophonics in the sunshine. 

 

Crocus, snowdrops, wallflowers were still blooming despite last week's Baltic tempertures and seven days of snow and the Monkey Puzzle tree looked glorious against the azure sky.

Tea was garlic bread, spiced couscous and salad, eaten whilst watching BoJo's latest update. After that I plotted a heritage walk for tomorrow and hung up my next Wear:Sleep:Repeat outfit before settling down to some more mind-blowing TV.

Stay safe and see you soon!