Can't Stop The Spring

Sunday started, as it usually does, with mugs of tea in bed and an hour or so of reading. Breakfast was toast eaten whilst watching the Sophie Rayworth Show. 

My elderly PC had packed up during the week and it turned out to be unfixable so we'd had to splash out on a fancy new one and, with a monitor, keyboard and mouse now surplus to requirements, we drove down to the clearance charity shop to drop them off. Pickings were slim but Jon managed to get some decent retro sportswear which I washed when we got back.

 

I wore my Dilli Grey Isabel dress - previously seen with Superga plimsols and sunglasses, wandering the labrythyne lanes of Altea - this time with Frye Campus boots and hair that hadn't been washed for over a week. I'm so excited to see my daffs - Spring felt so far away when I planted them last October.

After wrapping the weekend eBay sales I settled down in the lounge with Stephen propped up on the settee opposite and cracked on with the book I'd started earlier, The Pyramid by Henning Mankell, a collection of short stories featuring everyone's favourite Swedish detective, Kurt Wallander. My nails are painted with Barry M's Denim, a favourite shade they discontinued years ago, my friend Nikki kindly gave me a bottle she'd hardly used.

After a tea of veggie sausages, poached eggs, garden peas and sweet potato wedges we watched the rest of The Witchfinder, the BBC comedy starring Daisy May Cooper and Tim Key. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped but an entertaining watch nonetheless.

It was a frosty start to Monday morning and already light when I got up at just after 6am. After putting away the previous day's laundry I did my Wii Fit workout and used my hand weights for the first time in months as my Tennis Elbow finally seemed to have healed.

Jon was up early as he'd booked to take the works' van in for a service. There was no fruit for breakfast so I had crumpets slathered with butter. Jon emailed me a photo of the cooked breakfast he'd treated himself to whilst he was waiting. He's back on the meat! 

I ironed, photographed and listed some Spring stock on eBay and was just finishing up when Jon got back. He collected the parcels, did a post office run and popped into the supermarket on the way back.

It was a glorious afternoon, dazzlingly sunny and deliciously warm. Whilst Jon did some work on Gilbert I did some pruning and tidying in the garden, thrilled by the burgeoning signs of Spring. Don't believe those weirdo bloggers who deny climate change, you've only got to open your eyes and see for yourself how much earlier things are blooming.

Wardrobe-wise, its a Dilli Grey kind of a week, Monday was the turn of the Komal maxi skirt, teamed with a 1970s Ayesha Davar shirred cheesecloth blouse and a vintage embroidered Kashmiri belt.

We had grilled haloumi with roasted veg for tea accompanied with a bottle of beer and spent the evening catching up with ITV's tremendously stylish remake of The Ipcress File and got very excited spotting some of the stock we'd sold to the costume department. Its a fantastic watch even if the constant ad breaks drive you daft!

Tuesday got off to another frosty start and the sun streaming through the windows meant Jon was up early for the second day on the trot. After my Wii Fit workout I washed my yoga mat for the first time (I've owned it for over 15 years - what a slattern!) and hung it on the line before breakfast.

We drove over to our favourite Black Country town for a spot of charity shopping and, as it was so quiet, we didn't wear masks (but had them ready just in case). Our finds included: a 1980s Scottish-made wool jumper, a 1970s leather framed handbag by Littlewoods, a 1970s lace blouse, a Jones the Bootmaker mustard leather clutch bag, a split-front dobby cotton kurta by Indya, a 1980s floral jumpsuit, a 1970s pinafore dress, a 1970s all-wool midi skirt by Jaeger and a 1970s knife pleat midi dress. 

As most days, Ollie Puss popped in for lunch and stayed for seconds....and thirds.

More Dilli Grey! This time I wore my hand embroidered kantha jacket made from vintage velvet and found on eBay, along with a vintage Afghan dress and Mum's Biba boots. 

 

A few of you asked where we intended to put our newly acquired Victorian japaned cabinet. In truth we bought it because we loved it without any thought to where it would go. At the moment it's out of harm's way in the bathroom (like my friend Betty suggested) but it's not ideal. I liked Flis's idea of wall mounting it so maybe we'll do that when we finally get round to decorating the middle room (aka the dumping ground).

I meant to buy some black gloss to touch up the rough bits when we popped into Wilko on Sunday but got distracted by bird food and completely forgot.

As with my wardrobe, our house is constantly evolving with our charity shop acquisitions. As I was giving the bathroom shelves a wipe over I took a few photos. I bought this 1940s Edith A Andrews framed print, The Blue Butterfly, back in August last year and the terrarium was purchased from the clearance chazza back in January. I'm forever picking up pinecones as souvenirs from National Trust visits.

The Norman Parkinson print was another recent find as was the fake aloe vera plant (I can't get on with live ones, they always die on me!) If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know that I've used Superdrug's Vitamin E Radiance Moisturiser for decades however, during lockdown, disaster struck and I couldn't get hold of any - it turns out that it had been discontinued. I've been using Superdrug's Retinol Day and Night cream instead and while I'm not daft enough to believe that something you buy off the shelf is going to make a radical difference to your skin, after months of regular use I can see (and feel) a definite difference in the tone and texture. It's not as cheap as my beloved Vitamin E stuff but they often have it on offer (it's half price at the moment) and, like my old favourite, it's vegan friendly.

***Updated especially for my dear friend, Lynn. The box frame (from a charity shop) is filled with Indian cinema ticket stubs from the dying days of the Raj, a quirky joblot Jon found on eBay many years ago. The big cat was a present from Lynn & Philip after we lost Frank and the Siamese duo - from Disney's Lady & the Tramp - were my Mum's when she was a child.

Here's another sign of Spring - Jacob's out of hibernation and has spent the last two afternoons in the garden, basking in the sunshine!

See you soon!