Pachyderms, Pompeii, Patchwork & Charity Shop Finds

After my Wii Fit session, a blog comment catch-up and a flurry of eBay parcel wrapping, I spent Tuesday morning ironing, photographing and listing stock on eBay, leaving Jon to do the accounts - pretty straightforward this last tax year as all our sales were online.

After lunch, I spent the afternoon in the garden, sweeping up leaves and planting the 2kg bag of narcissi bulbs we'd bought from Wilko on Sunday. Lord Jon was far too distracted to take an outfit photo so I had to make do with a mirror selfie after sunset. That's the vintage Annabelinda wool pinafore dress I found in the clearance chazza a couple of months ago, worn with a 1970s Ayesha Davar cheesecloth blouse and my Rhodes Town beads. 

After half a cheese and onion quiche and salad we watched Monday night's 24 Hours in Police Custody and another episode of When The Dust Settles.

Wednesday was charity shopping day and we drove over to one of our favourite Black Country towns for a rummage via the Post Office to drop off our eBay parcels. Although the rails in all the shops we visited were absolutely rammed, pickings were slim. I found a lovely conker coloured leather belt and a couple of Philippa Gregory books (for me), a 1960s velvet & wool jacket, two 1980s suede jackets with the manufacturer's labels still attached, a 1970s Viyella House blazer (by appointment to HM the Queen!), a 1980s leather waistcoat, an unworn 1970s tweed Norfolk jacket by Dunn & Co, a 1990s Benetton tartan wool bomber jacket and a beautifully cut dress from the Nordic label, Arket. Jon treated himself to a wool cap for £1 (photo later on in the post!)

It was another unseasonable mild day (not that you'll get any complaints from me!) I wore possibly one of my favourite charity shop finds ever, a vintage Indian cotton block printed maxi dress by Adini. In the four years I've owned it, it has popped up regularly on my blog and even travelled around Rajasthan. Every time I wear it I feel like a goddess.

If I did the cost per wear thing, at £3 it probably owes me money by now.

After lunch, I did a load of washing and replaced the buttons on the 1960s black jacket I'd bought earlier before dying my roots (my bedroom mirror selfie the previous day was horrifying!) Wednesday was rum night so, after our half a pizza and sweet potato wedges, we poured ourselves a glass or three of Captain Morgan's finest white rum and watched more of When The Dust Settles....fine acting but, goodness me, it's a harrowing watch.

Thursday's breakfast fruit and yoghurt included a handful of absolutely delicious raspberries from the garden. Afterwards, we walked around the corner to drop off my completed accounts. Jon waited while I masked up and went inside to hand them over. As always I ended up chatting to Michael, my elderly & thoroughly charming accountant, for ages and Jon was practically nodding off on the wall outside by the time I came out. From there we walked the mile or so to Jon's accountant, handed his paperwork over and carried on into town.

Nobody knows why we have a lifesize concrete hippotamus in the town centre. What on earth does an overweight, aggressive mammal have in common with the people of Walsall? (On second thoughts, don't answer that.) He was unveiled in 1972 and has become a much-loved resident. Until he was moved to outside the library ten years ago he took pride of place in the high street and was a popular meeting point, "See you by the hippo." 

This is officially Lord Jon's last week of wearing shorts, he informs me that he'll be packing them away on 1st November. He's wearing the cap he found yesterday and the leather bag he bought in Rhodes Town.

 

A few yards away from the hippo is a statue honouring John Henry Carless, one of three young men from Walsall to be awarded the Victoria Cross, built from money raised by the people of Walsall and unveiled in 1919.

Born in Caldmore in 1896, John, like his two sisters, was employed in one of Walsall's many leatherworks and was also a promising footballer. During WWI he tried repeatedly to join the army but was turned down on four occasions due to having a "weak heart". His application to join the Royal Navy was more successful and he enlisted on 1st September 1915.

In November 1917 British ships battled German forces in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. During the action, John took a fatal shrapnel wound to the stomach but kept loading his gun, and encouraged his colleagues to do likewise. Once relieved, he collapsed and died. He was buried at sea the following day.

The commander of HMS Caledon, H.S. Harrison-Wallace, subsequently wrote to Carless's parents:

He was a most gallant lad and very promising. We feel his loss on the ship very much and all send their sincere sympathy to you and his family in his loss... You will be very proud to have the satisfaction of knowing that he did his duty so bravely and gallantly, fighting his King and country's enemy – the finest death a man can have. I buried him at sea and he had a very impressive funeral, attended by all his shipmates and the commander.

Sandwiched between Walsall library and 'Spoons is Walsall's town hall. Built of sandstone in the Baroque style, it opened in 1903 and despite living in the town all our lives, we're still mesmerised by the wonderful stonework. 

Today was the first time I'd noticed this fella's six-pack!

Here's the derelict Imperial. 

It opened as the Agricultural Hall in 1868 but was given a makeover in 1899 & renamed The Imperial. It started screening films in 1908 and continued to do so until 4th May, 1968 when the last film it showed was Cat Ballou with Jane Fonda & Lee Marvin. After decades of use as a bingo hall, it closed in 1996 and reopened a year later as a Wetherspoons, our favourite pub chain! 

Yes, up until 2016 Walsall had the honour of having two branches of Wetherspoons. We used to call The Imperial Rough 'Spoons because of the number of fights that used to break out and St Matthew's Hall (the pub we often spend all day in) as Posh 'Spoons as the beer prices were slighter higher to keep the riff-raff out. When we used to have blogger meet-ups in Walsall, I'd take my friends to both to get a proper taste of Black Country life. That's me and Curtise in Rough 'Spoons back in 2012.

Of course, we had to pop into the town's charity shops (although we gave the clearance chazza a miss as we'll be going on Sunday). We found a gents 1950s reversible moleskin waistcoat, a 1970s flecked wool coat, a 1960s Meritus paisley satin smoking jacket, a rather insane looking 1980s Kangol hat and a stunner of a vintage leather bag with the Penny Lane Casuals tag still attached (it's already in my wardrobe!)

We walked back up the Hill of Doom, calling into the chemist to pick up a box of lateral flow tests so we can continue to test for Covid at home twice a week, responsible adults that we are! After lunch, we pottered around the garden with The Lads.

There's no seasonal swapover at Stonecroft. I don't really have a winter wardrobe, I just wear coats, hats and boots with my cotton dresses (with thermals underneath if it gets particularly cold). Today I wore one of my Dilli Grey block printed midis (via eBay) with the vintage suede coat Cheryl gave me and a hat bought from a charity shop back in 2018. That's the belt I found in the charity shop yesterday.

Remember that roll of West African waxed cotton offcuts I bought in a charity shop before we went away? A few people commented that it had something to do with quilting - which is all very well and good if you're into all that stuff but it's not something that floats my boat.

Here's what I did with a few of the strips, glued them to my knackered 1960s Worcesterware wastepaper basket to create a patchwork effect and trimmed it with some pompom braid from my stash.

Tonight we're taking a break from bleak Scandi Noir and watching the new documentary series on Pompeii with one of our favourite TV historians, Bettany Hughes.

See you soon!