November!

It's November and traditionally the month Lord Jon packs away his shorts but on the first day of the month it was still warm enough to wear them, hooray! The Superdry quilted cotton jacket and Fatface denim blue cotton-knit hoodie are the latest charity-shopped additions to his wardrobe.

Nothing new to see here. I bought my 1960s Dollyrockers gauzy cotton maxi dress from Walsall's legendary vintage shop, Second to None, back in 2009 when I was with my friend Cheryl to whom my vintage suede jacket used to belong.

 

Off out for a morning of charity shopping we popped to Lidl and picked up a £1.50 Waste Not box....

It contained two bags of spinach, two nets of brown and red onions, two big red peppers, two packs of asparagus tips, an aubergine and a punnet of plums.

The mushrooms and strawberries (grown a mile up the road in Staffordshire!) were 20p a pack. Jon also found two punnets of organic vine-ripened cherry tomatoes reduced to half price when he nipped into Morrisons for some rum.

Then it was off to the charity shops where we found: Patrick (Sewing Bee) Grant's "Hammond & Co" cotton chores jacket; Karen Millen wool & Alpaca sleeveless cardi; a reversible Indian kantha jacket (sold to a dear friend); a 1980s Americana shirt by Relay; a FILA all-wool golf tank top; a Remus Uomo merino wool waistcoat and a 1980s embroidered cotton hippy kaftan.

Zara wool blend tank top; Adidas three stripe top (now in Jon's wardrobe); 1980s Barretts western boots; 1980s DAKS all-wool hand-finished blazer; white denim jumpsuit; 1980s African safari shirt and a sequinned bomber jacket.

I'd spotted this striped polo neck jumper by pricey Danish label, Part Two, a fortnight ago and was pleased to see that it was still on the rails. 

We've binge-watched the BBC's SAS - Rogue Heroes, based on the book of the same name by Ben Macintyre and adapted for the TV by the godlike genius that is Steven "Peaky Blinders" Knight who, not only shares his 5th August birthday with Jon but also went to school in Walsall.

 

SAS Rogue Heroes is all the more exciting as Jon's late father, Alfred (Fred), served a commando in WWII's North Africa Campaign, from whom the SAS were recruited. The series brings to life the numerous wartime albums which Jon inherited. These are just a few of his amazing photos.

When I got up in the darkness on Wednesday morning I assumed that Jon hadn't got around to adjusting the timers for the lights in line with the clock change. Half an hour later I realised it had only just turned 5am and I was an hour earlier than usual! I used my extra time wisely and worked on next year's Glastonbury application, submitting it four days before the deadline - it's such a long, detailed (and scary) process I'd been putting it off for weeks. 

After temperatures in the high teens last week, there was a distinct Autumnal chill in the air and the perfect excuse to snip off the labels and wear the Part Two cotton polo neck I'd bought the previous day. I added my Dilli Grey Dakota needlecord maxi skirt (new, retail), a vintage felted wool hat (charity shop, 2015), a pendant that Mum used to wear in the 1970s and this 1990s burgundy curly lamb and suede jacket I'd forgotten I owned.

After Paul's generous offer of a lift to Handsworth last week (HERE) and the amazing boots Gisella had found for me (HERE) my jacket is another example of the kindness of others. A lady who told me that she'd often admired my style from afar gave me the jacket at last year's End of the Road festival. If that wasn't lovely enough I was wearing it later that day and a customer noticed that the pocket was torn, she told me that she was a master saddler and insisted on mending it for me. Don't write off humanity just yet, my world is full of fantastic humans!

The jacket is made in France and labelled Galleries Lafayette....the iconic department store in Paris (which I wrote about HERE)....oh la la! Lord Jon and I visited when I won a holiday to Paris back in the 1990s and almost wet ourselves laughing at the pampered pet department where they sold baseball caps for cats!

Our plans for the day were postponed due to the high winds and torrential rain so it was another morning of charity shopping. We don't usually go on a Wednesday, we're clearly missing a trick. There's loads more but I'm still washing it! Finds included some Feud, London platform clogs, a William Morris X H&M Snakeshead pleated midi skirt, a vintage '70s lurex maxi dress, a vintage 1970s dagger collar midi dress, a 1960s Crimplene trouser suit, a denim sherpa jacket, a 1980s Crusader cricket jumper and a 1970s puffed sleeve mac which, I think was originally St Michael (my Mum had one) but the labels have been removed . 

There's also a vintage 1970s needlecord jacket by celebrated Scottish designer Marion Donaldson (who hand-finished all her designs), an organic cotton "Maribel" tunic by cool Scandi label Gudrun Sjödén, Son of Wild cotton canvas shirt, American-made tie-dyed wolf and full moon tee shirt, Peruvian Collection pima cotton A Line dress (the second garment by this high-end, fair trade label in less than a week!), Urban Outfitters puffer jacket and an amazing embroidered cowboy shirt by Scully.

It's been a few years since I last found a Jean Varon dress in a charity shop. Probably best known for designing Diana Rigg's leather catsuit when she played Emma Peel in the 1960s TV series, The Avengers, John Bates founded the label in 1959 using the name Jean Varon to add a little continental cachet . Never receiving the recognition he deserved, Jean Varon was declared bankrupt in 1980 although the label continued for a couple more years under the administration of Tom Bowker. 

This satin acetate cocktail dress dates from that period, is made in England (like all his clothes were) and is in perfect condition. I've found a couple online - both for sale by American vintage sellers, the least expensive is priced at £366. I love the saloon girl vibe, if I haven't sold it by next year I might have to borrow it for the festival season.

Having finished SAS Rogue Heroes on Wednesday night we got stuck into Entrapped, the sequel to the Icelandic cop series, Trapped. We're already gripped.

I've just started my 69th book of the year. A friend and I are going to an Audience with Philippa Gregory at the theatre next week so I need to do my homework. It's the 14th book of hers I've read with 20 more to go (excluding her children's books). I'm always on the lookout in charity shops but I really need to write down the ones I'm looking for, I've started buying the books I've already read.

On Thursday morning we went for our second swim of the week. That's me in my sexy long hair swimming cap after finishing my forty lengths and in joyful anticipation for my 'Spoons breakfast. My friend Sam asked if we were planning to continue swimming through the winter...you bet! Since we returned to our regular swims in April this year I've never felt fitter or more confident. I just hope the council can afford to keep the Gala Baths going, over sixty pools have closed since the start of the UK's cost of living crisis.  

Walking back with a bellyful of Mushrooms Benedict (me) and Eggs Benedict (Jon), we bumped into a girl who, despite living in the next street, we only ever see when we're at Glastonbury. Last time we saw her we were clutching cans of gin and dancing to the Pet Shop Boys. Having submitted our trader application the day before I'm hoping it's a sign that we're going back next year.

I posed for a photo on the way home. The former Duke of Wellington pub opened its doors to drinkers in 1861 but stopped trading a couple of decades ago has since been redeveloped into flats - property developers take note, it is possible to convert beautiful old buildings rather than flatten them and replace them with concrete breeze blocks!

I'm wearing the 1950s suede coat I scored for £3 in the clearance chazza a few weeks ago over a block printed Anokhi midi dress bought from their Chowpatti Beach branch in Mumbai back in February 2020. The Jones The Bootmaker tan leather riding boots (clearance chazza) are a bit leaky but it's nigh-on impossible to find boots to fit my skinny calves so they're staying!

Like every day this week, I've spent the afternoon photographing and listing on eBay leaving Jon to crack on with tea.

So what has he done with the contents of our Waste Not box? The plums were combined with some raspberries from our garden and made into an oat crumble; the strawberries eaten for breakfast with Greek yoghurt; half the spinach, a couple of red onions and some of the (roasted) cherry tomatoes topped a flat bread which Jon served with the asparagus and some chilli infused home-grown potatoes; the aubergine was griddled and accompanied by a salad which contained some of the spinach, onions, & tomatoes and the mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and onions were oven-roasted with some haloumi and more of our crop of potatoes. 

I'm with you, Thomas! I may have been born in December but I'll always be hopelessly devoted to the Summer . Fingers crossed we get the dry, sunny day we've been promised, we're off out National Trusting tomorrow.

See you soon!