We Are Your Friends

 On Sunday, after tea in bed and toast at the kitchen table, we loaded the three bags we'd filled following a ruthless reassessment of our camping gear earlier in the week and drove down to the clearance charity shop to hand them over and to have our weekly rummage.

What did we find? A poppy print scarf still with the tags from the Imperial War Museum attached, a 1980s linen-mix dress (I'm sure it was originally St Michael, I recognise it from my youth), a 1950s Scottish mohair scarf, a Star Wars rucksack, an English-made waxed jacket, a mohair jumper by Cos and an East for Anokhi shirt a friend who was shopping at the same time spotted and handed it over. After popping into Wilko for duct tape and Poundland for batteries - oh, the excitement - we went home for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon pricing stock and laundering our finds.

Remember the sneak peek I gave of the dress I found last Wednesday? Here it is in all her glory.

I love that Wyse, London claims to be for women with a sense of joie de vivre, with nothing to do with being a certain age or looking a certain way – but it has everything to do with wanting elevated women’s clothing that’s also unexpected… and a bit fabulous.

Its founder, Marielle Wyse, launched the label five years ago. "Being half French and half British, her design approach was less is more, but with a twist. She wasn’t a fashion designer but had a passion for clothes and a creative instinct. At a time when the industry was either exclusively high-end or mass-market high street, she saw an opportunity to create small batches of expertly cut, excellent quality clothing, with a big dose of happiness." The dress is certainly cut well, I hardly recognise my own body!

Sunday was supposed to be a better day than Saturday, which had peed it down relentlessly, but turned out damp, grey and gloomy. At least the rain's helping the crops. This was the day's harvest - patty pan, cucumbers, a courgette, a fistful of strawberries and some blackberries.

Tea was cheese, biscuits, hummus, cucumbers and olives. We spent the evening with The Man in the High Castle before I retired to bed with my latest read, a psychological thriller with references to Greek mythology.

I've put my eBay shop on holiday so there were no parcels to wrap on Monday morning. Instead, I wandered around the garden and ironed the previous day's washing before my Wii Fit workout. After breakfast, Jon went off to do the shopping and to call in on Tony and I walked into town to meet my beautiful friend, Annie. Our last get together was with Curtise & Tania HERE - EIGHT years ago!!!

I met Annie at the train station and we went straight up to the clearance charity shop where we spent ages rummaging. Sated from our shopping adventures we spent the rest of the day outside 'Spoons quaffing lager, eating pizza and chips and putting the world to rights. Let's not leave it so long next time, Annie!

Of course, no day out with me is complete without an obligatory 'Spoons toilet selfie. I'm a classy lady!

Despite only visiting the chazza the day before, with over a thousand items added to the shop floor daily, there's always fresh stock to peruse. For the stockroom, I bought this vintage Guy Curtis pleated skirt and 1980s St Michael midi (both skirts are the same size & same era so presumably donated by the same person). The mustard teeshirt is for Jon and this pair of handmade pillowcases made from Spanish textile manufacturer, Vilber's iconic World Atlas print - perfect for our campervan pillows.

Back at home, I posed for an outfit photo, not that there's anything new to see, this 1970s Pakistani block printed kaftan pops up on my blog with alarming regularity. Jon served up feta and red onion quiche with roasted patty pans and courgettes and we watched another couple of episodes of The Man in the High Castle.

On Tuesday morning I foraged for strawberries, cut some more sweet peas and ironed the charity shop finds I'd washed the previous evening before doing my Wii Fit workout.  After breakfast, I swept the front of the house whilst Jon continued to tinker with the van electrics, a job he'd started yesterday. 

Our neighbour, Ray, popped over to ask if we could find a use for some wrought iron garden furniture that they no longer wanted. (I'm sure you can guess our answer). Jon offered him cash but he was more than happy with a few beers. It'll be interesting to see us trying to get it up their garden steps, through their house and over the road to ours!

Our friend Cheryl popped over for a catch-up over a cup of tea. She'd had another wardrobe clear out and passed on a few things she thought I might like including this vintage psychedelic poppy print maxi I'd admired when she'd worn it. I love both waistcoats and can't wait to try those original 1970s printed acetate flares!

Just as Cheryl was leaving Lynn and Phillip arrived. They'd spent a week in The Cotswolds at Lynn's sister's house and popped in on their way back to Lancashire. It's been three years since we'd last seen each other and there was much excitement and a lot of catching up to do.

Jon was there too but was in his workwear and decided to stay behind the camera. How amazing is Lynn's dress? I want one! 

Here's Lord Jon - Lynn sent me photo last night!

Talk about spoiled! I raved over this incredible vintage bag when Lynn shared it on her blog years ago and now it's mine! We both commented on this picture frame when we went up to stay with them in 2016, it's now Jon's along with a bottle of his favourite red wine.

Tea was pizza with salad, including some of Jon's homegrown carrots, freshly dug from the ground and flavoured with Moroccan spices. Tonight we'll be watching more of The Man in the High Castle. It's almost the end of our free Amazon Prime trial and there's still another series to go.

Phew! What with seeing Liz, Adrian, Liz & Al last weekend, my brother popping round twice, Brendan & Lynn visiting on Friday, Jon seeing Tony and me meeting Annie yesterday and Ray, Cheryl, Lynn and Philip popping round today, that's the most socialising we've managed since 2019! My head might explode when we get to the End of the Road next week.

 

See you soon!

PS Thank you so much for your comments, I promise to respond to them all in the next day or so!