Spies, Witches and Charity Shopping

On Saturday night we'd watched the last episode of Chernobyl and, wanting something a little different, opted for I Am Not A Witch, a film about a little girl in Zambia who, after a banal incident, is accused of being a witch. It was funny, tragic and haunting beautiful.

On Sunday, we shared the remainder of the pack of hot cross buns we'd bought on the way home from the baths on Friday before heading down to the clearance charity shop. 

We came home with: a vintage Gabicci polo shirt, an West African waxed cotton tunic, a double breasted wool waistcoat, a British designed wool jacket, a contemporary Biba beaded top, a block printed cotton kimono, a 1980s pintucked cotton blouse, some Collectif shorts with the £39.99 price tags still attached, a vintage tweed cape from Tie Rack, a 1970s Thai-made midi dress, a Paperchase organiser and four books.

So much for the book buying ban! We snaffled some Scandi Noir from the fantastic Arnaldur Indridason, the second in Len Deighton's Game, Set and Match trilogy and a couple from authors we're not familar with but The Melody features what might be my dream house on the cover so I had to get it.

It wasn't particularly warm but I went bare-legged again, this time wearing my vintage embroidered tomato dress, that recently charity-shopped Adidas trackie top and my red Lottas.

We're big Mick Herron fans in this house as you can see from the bookshelf

After lunch Jon spent the afternoon potting on seedlings and tidying the garden while I swept and polished the upstairs floorboards followed by a reshuffle of the Kinky Shed. Later we watched the third instalment of Slow Horses, the TV adaptation of the brilliant Mick Herron spy novel of the same name. It stars Gary Oldman and Kirsten Scott Thomas and Mick Jagger wrote (and performed) the title track. We also watched the first in the new series of The Secrets of the Museum and a couple more episodes of Stanley Tucci's Secrets of Italy. 

On Monday I did my Wii Fit Workout, watered the houseplants, wrapped the eBay parcels and, at 8.40am, Jon & I walked down to the baths for our twice weekly swim, rewarding ourselves with breakfast in 'Spoons. Last week's Eggs Benedict and vegetarian alternative, Mushrooms Benedict, was so delicious we had it again. Check out Wetherspoons' breakfast menu HERE (No, I'm not sponsored but I ought to be!)

It had just turned 10am and there was already a group of pensioners on the whisky, god bless 'em. We stuck to Lavazza coffee, once you've paid your £1.20 you can have free refills all day, not that we took them up on the offer, we'd have been swinging from the chandeliers with all that caffeine!

Back at home I started listing some stock on eBay but the gale-force wind and intermittent bursts of heavy rain weren't conducive to photography so, after struggling with ten items, I wrote descriptions for  the other forty-five and saved them to draft, hoping to take photos later in the week when the weather is supposed to improve. 

I'd unearthed this 1960s jacket during Sunday's shed reshuffle, handmade from the most divine buttersoft suede and, as I'm currently obsessed with all things olive green, decided to take it out on loan. The chartreuse embrodered ramie blouse and Betty Jackson leather belt came from the clearance chazza last year and the vintage Indian block printed Phool skirt was part of a suit I'd bought from an online vintage seller back in 2017. The African brass neckplate was Mum's, like me, she loved bold pieces of tribal jewellery. 

After some internet searching I discovered that Len Deighton's Game, Set & Match triology had been made into a thirteen part series on ITV starring Ian Holm back in the 1980s and, being obsessed with all things Cold War, we found it on YouTube and watched the first three and a bit episodes. Jon fell asleep during the fourth instalment, blaming me for making him swim 34 lengths and walk two miles from the baths and back.

The weather was atrocious when I got up on Tuesday morning so, after my Wii Fit and breakfast, Jon suggested we go charity shopping as there was zero chance of taking eBay photos. Despite it being the Easter holidays, the town was practically deserted and we were the only customers in most of the charity shops we visited.

I'd been looking for a denim jacket for a while and was thrilled to find this Diesel one in the first charity shop we visted. Diesel was established in Italy in 1978 by Renzo Rosso in the midst of a worldwide oil crisis. Rosso liked that diesel was being touted as an alternative fuel and, wanting his brand to be an alternative to other jeans brands with a name pronounced equally all over the world, he chose "diesel" for his company's name. On their website Diesel's "slim fit trucker jacket" currently retails at £195, mine, manufactured in 2003, cost £7. Its a brand that's often faked so do your homework before reaching for your purse.

I'd left the house in my vintage turquoise leather coat, with the exception of my bus nutter mac, its the most watertight garment I own, but thought the new-to-me jacket worked well with my secondhand Dilli Grey dress.

In adiition to the huge pile of clobber currently piled up on the lounge rug waiting for one of us to throw in the washing machine, I also found this....be still my beating heart...a vintage 1970s cheesecloth & macrame tunic for the princely sum of £1.69!

I always say I'm not into bags but can never resist vintage leather with a strap long enough to wear across my body. The one is marked "real leather" inside and is big enough to accomodate my camera. It was priced at £3 but the lady on the counter said it was overpriced and charged me £1.

Tonight we'll be eating haloumi with roast vegetables and watching more spy stuff. Jon's decided to tackle the mending pile so I'd better go and sort out the charity shop mountain so we can see the TV when we tune in later.

See you soon!