Catching-Up

Forgive me dear readers for I have sinned, it's been seven days since my last post but, in my defence, I have managed to price and iron over a thousand items in our travelling vintage shop and made minor repairs to anything we missed the first time round. The van's been scrubbed,our bedding and cooking gear is safely packed away and, thunderstorms permitting, Jon's double-checking the awning in the next day or so. This week will be spent ensuring we have enough healthy food (and booze!) to sustain us over seven days. 

Whilst we've mainly been busy preparing for Glasto that's not to say we've not found time for other pursuits. All work and no play makes for a very dull blog post. There's been a trip to the cinema to rewatch The Royal Tenenbaums as part of Walsall Light's Wes Anderson season and a night out with Liz & Adrian.

The Black Country Arms for beers and Gurka Bhojan for a Nepali feast.

We've finally watched Bank of Dave, caught up with the Secrets of the National Trust and just started on Scotland's Home of the Year. Reading-wise, it's all been very historical this week. I've visited Thomas Cromwell's England with Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, fast forwarded to the Great Fire of 1666 in Andrew Taylor's The Ashes of London and I'm now back with the Tudors with Philippa Gregory's tale of Mary Queen of Scots in The Other Queen.

And, of course, there's been shopping....

Last Monday Liz & I popped over to a recent shopping rediscovery, the One Stop at Perry Barr, a twenty minute ride on the 51 bus which stops a five minute walk away from our front door. Liz found some fabulous leather flatforms in the Clarks Outlet and the M&S Outlet was absolutely stuffed with bargains (I bought an Autograph bra, a snakeskin workout top and five pairs of cotton rich socks for £10). We struck gold in the chazzas, too. In addition to a pile of vintage gems, I snaffled a current Moschino tee shirt which retails HERE at £220, a top worn by one of the dancers at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and a splendidly over-the-top sequined coat to enhance my festival wardrobe. After lunch at Spoons (where else?) we caught the bus home where upon alighting, discovered a pile of stuff left outside the electronic gates of one of our uber rich neighbours for passers-by to help themselves to. Of course I had to claim the biggest thing - a plush lined wooden cat house - which we took turns in carrying back to Stonecroft.

Because my heads all over the place at the moment I didn't think to take photos of our day out but this is what I wore - in fact I've worn the same outfit five days in the last fortnight. I blinkin' love this Pink City Prints prairie dress.

I found a massive length of vintage Acetate-type fabric in the clearance chazza marked up at £2. Using my trusty 1971 Style dressmaking pattern I knocked up this skirt in a couple of hours. I might wear it with my 1960s lace-up suede waistcoat and my demonic rams horn headpiece at Glasto next week.  Talking of sewing, there's a contestant from Walsall in this year's Great British Sewing Bee, Lauren, and I've just discovered that she lives in the next street! She's not the first contestant from Walsall - we're a creative lot round here!

On Tuesday and Thursday we went for our regular, early morning half-mile swim - we need to be superfit for those twelve hour (and often longer) working days. I spotted this Speedo swimsuit in the clearance charity shop with the £28 tags still attached. At first glance I thought the appallingly 1980s colours were awful but at £3 it would have been foolish to leave it behind and once on I absolutely loved it. The label says that its suitable for "competitive swimming"and I swear it's making me swim even faster than usual (or it could be that I'm just keen to get my lengths in before heading to Spoons for breakfast!)

Secondhand finds have been phenomenal of late, you name it, we've found it. Anything from festival staples like Converse leather hi-tops, Levi's cut-offs and Doc Martens to 1970s denim, 1980s jumpsuits, flamboyant maxis, 1950s tea dresses & Tootal dressing gowns. It's not just the Kinky Melon rails that are groaning under the weight of it all, my wardrobe seems to be growing at an alarming rate, too. The woven Greek shorts alone retail at £90 (the total for everything came to less than 50% of that price!) I'm definitely sorted for my next beach holiday.

Greek high-end label Devotion Twins shorts, Michael Kors leather trainers & Zara cotton suntop (lovin' those tassels!)

M.A.B.E. Indian cotton embroidered sundress, Monsoon woven sun top and River Island rose gold studded belt.

An Indian cotton embroidered tunic and embroidered cotton bag (both by the now defunct Star Mela) plus two pairs of Lucy & Yak organic cotton dungarees. I found the blue & pink pair and Jay, one of my fellow Sunday morning charity shopping pals, spotted the black ones.

With the temperatures finally hitting 30°C I couldn't be happier and most afternoons you'll find me in a bikini, slathered in Hawaiian Tropic with a mountain of clothes, a box of recycled price tags and a Sharpie singing along to 6Music. And at long last I've been able to leave the house in flimsy cotton dresses, gypsy skirts and crop tops with my beloved Lotta of Stockholm clogs and my ever-growing stash of oversized sunglasses. I was born for the Summer! 

Charity shopped cotton suntop worn with a block printed Pink City Prints wraparound maxi (courtesy of eBay)

I have to laugh at anyone out and about huffing and puffing and complaining of the heat whilst dressed from head to toe in synthetics, skintight jeans, leggings or nylon sportswear. Dress appropriately, people! 

 

Embroidered Greek crinkle cotton midi dress (bought back from Rhodes last year) and eBayed Lotta clogs

East block printed skirt worn with charity shopped cotton top and orange secondhand Lottas

Monsoon artisan range hand-embroidered cotton maxi dress with seven year old Lottas and a charity shopped bag

I ignored Monty and didn't bother cutting back my Clematis Montana after it had flowered last Summer and it's looking better than ever. The Yukka on my right was rescued from out of a bin at Glastonbury last year, he's called Bruce in honour of The Boss's surprise appearance with Macca on the Pyramid stage.

Jon's happy, too. After a delay of three years he's finally had steroid injections in his knees. He was so desperate he was seriously contemplating paying to have them done. He's not had to take painkillers for almost a fortnight - three cheers for the NHS! 

You've probably noticed that this fella is still calling Stonecroft home. He's bewitched everyone who's met him so far with his flirtatious ways. Forget Birmingham's Floozie in the Jacuzzi, he's Highgate's Slut in the Hut.

I'm off to catch up with everything I've missed in Blogland and reply to your comments. I've got an exciting day out planned for Thursday, I'll be back soon to report on who I've met and where we've been.