In The Swim

 It was a frosty start to the week, I had to break the ice in the birdbath when I dashed outside to collect the weekend sales from the Kinky shed on Monday morning. After my Wii Fit workout I packaged everything up and caught up with Blogland before Jon joined me for breakfast.

 

I felt the need to plait my hair when I put on my Naked Generation dress, going full-on Cottagecore, as the kids call it. Tony called to tell us that Covid had finally caught up with him - a miracle he'd not caught it sooner considering he works in retail - so Jon did a mercy dash with some groceries, knocking the door and leaving them on the doorstep. Fortunately he's triple jabbed and he just feels like he's got a cold. 

I spent the majority of the day ironing, photographing and listing summery gear on eBay including some recently acquired pieces by Agnes B, Monsoon, Anthropologie, East Artisan by Anokhi and Band of Gypsies. Despite promising us a warm day, it was quite chilly despite the sunshine.

A customer got in touch asking if they could pick their purchase up after they'd finished work so I lounged on the chaise with my latest read, another Tudor epic by Philippa Gregory waiting to hand over their parcel.

Jon made tea, a Punjabi tikka masala with paneer, jalapeno peppers, capiscums and ladies fingers - delicious! We watched more of the Finnish Noir, Deadwind, later.

On Tuesday, after my Wii Fit and breakfast, we drove across Walsall to visit the dentist and, due to the pandemic, the first time I'd been in over two and a half years! As it was such a gorgeous morning we parked a few streets away and went for a walk in the sunshine. Jon visited during lockdown when he broke his crown so just needed a check-up and a scale and polish (charge band 1 - £23.80). Meanwhile I needed my fractured tooth repaired, a rough edge filed down on another tooth plus a scale and polish & a check-up (charge band 2 -£65.20). Lord Jon paid for my treatment, what a sweetheart!

WEARING: Dilli Grey dress in Rani pink & Toast cowboy boots (both eBay), 1970s sunglasses (charity shop)

PK has a reputation for being the kindest and most gentle dentist in the borough, in normal times the waiting room is full of nurses, consultants and surgeons from Walsall's Manor Hospital. Like us, he lives to travel, he's just back from a week in Instanbul, there's lots of photos of Greece in reception and he once spotted me when we were in Mumbai but couldn't attract my attention. He never scrimps with the anesthetic, as you can see from the photo, my face was frozen for hours! 

For weeks now I've been feeling sluggish and annoyed with myself for slipping into bad habits so earlier in the day I'd written myself a Fit at 55 Manifesto and pinned it to the fridge door. No more eating after 6pm*, one mug of tea with milk with breakfast & then herbal tea and water for the rest of the day, fancy coffees for weekends only, smaller portions, daily walks and the return of swimming. I swam two to three times a week for years but I got to know so many people at our public baths that I spent more time chatting than swimming so decided to save money and knock it on the head. 

*Unless we're on holiday or invited out.

Jon is keen to join me and after a shuffle through the drawers we realised that we needed lightweight sports towels (we own two bath towels and two hand towels) so popped over to Decathlon for a couple. Browsing the swimming aisle I noticed swimming caps designed especially for those of us with long hair - who knew such things existed - so snaffled one of those, too. 

After lunch I stripped down to a bikini top - it was that warm in the sunshine- and continued with the garden tidying, leaving Jon to work on Gilbert. The magnolia is out and doesn't it look fabulous against that blue sky? The hyacinths were from a National Trust garden we'd visited last year, they were selling bags of spent blooms for £1 - they've come back beautifully.

Wednesday, kicked off in the same gloriously sunny way. I did my Wii Fit Workout, dyed my eyebrows and lashes and caught up with blogland before joining Jon for breakfast. We nipped over to our favourite Black Country town for a bit of charity shopping and came back with a leather biker jacker, some Moroccan earrings, an Alexander McQueen "Swallow" sweatshirt (which retailed at £179!), a vintage Indian screen printed silk scarf, a 1970s chopping board (I can't resist retro kitchenalia), a 1980s lined cardi, a 1980s cotton midi dress, a Superdry casual shirt, a white cotton slip (mine!), a Japanese tea pot, a 1960s straw boater and a 1970s batik maxi skirt. Jon got two teeshirts but they went in the washing machine straightaway. 

I lost count of the number of people who admired my East Artisan by Anokhi midi dress, which I'd found on eBay listed at a fraction of the original price last Summer. The copal beads are one of my favourite clearance shop finds and cost me 50p last year, the oversized 1970s Polaroid sunglasses came from a car boot sale donkey's years ago.

After lunch, Liz popped round for a coffee and a catch-up, after she left we walked down to Walsall's Gala Baths for a swim.

There's been a public baths in Walsall since 1850, the first located where Asda now stands with the water from natural springs beneath which were steam heated. Open seven days a week, it had an unsupervised area for men and a womens section with a female attendant. Each day was divided into first and second class hours and in a time when few homes in Walsall had access to running water and personal hygiene was often neglected, the public baths played in valuable role providing the townspeople with the facilities for a proper wash.

The Central Baths, 1914 (Source)

In 1896 the Central Baths in Tower Street opened and included slipper baths, Turkish baths, swimming pools and medicated baths. They were demolished in 1959 and replaced with the Gala Baths which opened on 6th May, 1961 at a cost of £380,000 and included a competition pool 110 feet long, seating for 800 spectactors, a brine pool and a training pool, all of which are still available for public use.

Walsall Gala Baths, 1971 (Source)

The brine baths are our favourite, they're heated to 34°C and the salt water is much kinder on the skin. We downloaded a timetable and went to the adults only session, swimming a total of 16 lengths. A lady complimented me on my elegant swimming technique which I put it down to my fancy swimming cap!

 It's rum night! That soon rolls round, doesn't it? We shall be watching Interior Design Masters, for some light relief after a few nights of Scandi Noir.

Cheers & see you soon.