The Wedding Singer

After breakfast on Tuesday, we walked into town for our eye tests. Jon was delighted that his prescription hadn't changed and that he didn't need to splash out on new glasses but, while my prescription has also stayed the same, I failed my field tests several times and have been referred to the hospital for further investigation. The optician has told me not to worry so I won't. Que sera, sera!

By the time we'd stocked up on toiletries and bought a birthday card, we didn't have time to browse the chazzas so walked back up the Hill of Doom towards home and got chatting to two fabulous women, Wendy & Doreen, who despite living around the corner from us we'd never met before. Wendy's brother lives in Yorkshire and had stumbled across my blog a while ago and on his suggestion, Wendy also reads it. What a small world!

It was a blustery but mild day and I was able to cast off my thermals and beer mittens. I wore my Dilli Grey Komal maxi skirt and the Greek hand-embroidered blouse I bought in Lindos back in September. My Moshulu leather boots, Aldo fedora & Betty Jackson belt are all charity shop finds.

After lunch, Jon did a few jobs on Patrice whilst I photographed & listed a few more on eBay before curling up with my latest read for an hour or so. Yet again, the evening was spent with The Alienist, fifteen episodes down, three to go. 

On Wednesday I wrapped the eBay parcels after my Wii Fit Workout. Stephen was due his check-up at the vet so Jon wrestled him into the carrier and emailed me some photos once they'd checked in. Becky, our vet, is very pleased with our old boy (he'll be 17 in May), his blood pressure and heart rate are good and his weight has increased. We thought he might have gone deaf as he's been shouting really loudly of late but, on closer inspection, he's got an ear infection which should clear up with drops in a week or so.

After Jon had unleashed Stephen from the cat carrier and had a restorative cup of coffee, we set off to our favourite Black Country town for a look around the charity shops, bumping into our friends Brendan and Lynn in the clearance shop and had a catch-up in between some serious rummaging.

What did we find? A handknitted gents' Aran jumper, a 1970s fully-lined chevron striped midi skirt, a 1960s fake fur hat, a White Stuff wool & mohair hat (which, after snipping off the fake fur pom-pom Jon has claimed as his own), a 1960s all-wool London tailored overcoat, a United Colors of Benetton leather belt, a snazzy shirt with the tags still attached and a 1980s brocade waistcoat.

An early '70s English-made wool & mohair jacket by Miss Selfridge, a handknitted wool cardi, a 1970s English-made tweed gents blouson jacket, two vintage hand-knitted hats (now mine), a very posh boating blazer, 1960s plaited leather Western belt, a handknitted jumper and a tiger print shirt (Jon's!)

The boating blazer is made by Devil's Advocate, a company that specialises in very flashy, skinny fitting jackets in metallic fabrics, velvet, sequins and fake fur and retail upwards of £200.

In the pocket was a copy of a receipt for the services of an Anglo-Portuguese wedding singer from Wolverhampton. I found his YouTube channel and thought he deserved a plug for generously donating his jacket to charity.

My new-to-me hat was a good match with my outfit so I kept it on. It's my Dilli Grey Dakota skirt again, this time worn with a navy thermal M&S polo neck, a recycled sari silk wraparound top (bought from All About Audrey in 2020), some olive green velvet boots (River Island via a charity shop in 2019) and a necklace made by my Mum in the 1970s.

As I mentioned in my last post, we're escaping the UK for a few days at the end of the month. To keep the flight costs down we're only taking cabin bags (24cm x 40cm x 20cm). Not wanting to incur a £69 penalty for not having the right size baggage I had a rummage, sold a couple of things on eBay and used some of the profits to buy a new travel bag which was waiting for me when I got home.

 Needless to say, it's fairtrade, ethically & sustainably made (in India)....and exactly the right size. How many dresses can I cram in? I'm going to have fun over the next few weeks trying.

It's Tony's birthday tomorrow so we're off on the train to Birmingham with lunch in Dishoom and the afternoon in the pub. Photos may (or may not) follow.

See you soon!