Pies & Prejudice

Breaking off from my mammoth weekend of eBay listing for a bit of a blog hop, I had to roll my eyes at a snarky comment levelled at a woman who mostly wears secondhand clothes, Well once again a charity shop guru, fine if you want to wear others casts off...as a child my mum often came home with bags of clothes given to her and whether they fitted or not I had to wear them, so no. Well, like that commenter, as a child, I too was dressed in clothes handed down from Mum's work colleagues, from secondhand shops or jumble sales and I didn't mind one bit that they once belonged to someone else. Even as a child I LOVED looking different. The more people with that prejudiced attitude the better, it means all the more cast-offs for me!

(PS I nicked my blog title from the excellent book by 6Music DJ Stuart Maconie)

On Saturday we popped into town to run an errand for a friend and, as usual, was dressed from head to toe in cast-off clothing; a River Island hat, ancient leather cowboy boots & Topshop linen top (all charity shopped), a 1970s Indian Imports of Rhode Island block printed maxi skirt (via eBay) and a fabulous vintage sheepskin gilet which used to belong to a very stylish friend. 

 The rest of the day was spent eBay listing. Jon made some lovely baked bean and sage pies for tea, accompanied by some homemade oven chips. Needless to say, the Mason's individual bowls were part of a six piece set, bought from a charity shop and the Rangemaster, in which we cooked our tea, was a hand-me-down from a neighbour.

After the success of the Five Ingredient Vegan cookbook, I bought another of Katy Beskow's books from Abebooks (£3.17 including postage) and I was surprised to discover that it was brand new when it arrived.

We don't use tomato ketchup so Lord Jon used chilli sauce.

Just like with the mystery of the horseshoe nail pendant last week, once again a blog reader came to my rescue and made a recommendation for our next binge watch, the excellent time-travelling thriller series, based on a graphic novel by Si Spencer, Bodies on Netflix (not to be confused with the brilliant Jed Mercurio medical series of the same name!) Unfortunately the commenter didn't leave a name but thanks so much, we're loving it. As soon as I discovered Stephen Graham was in it I knew we'd enjoy it.

We popped to the clearance chazza on Sunday morning but were very restrained and only came home with a handful of things which, with the exception of the three paperbacks (Tombland, the only CJ Sansom book I haven't read & two novels by Dave Eggers, whose A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius I absolutely loved when I read it twenty years ago) went straight into the stockroom.  

I had to wear my new-to-me vintage 1960s maxi dress and being 100% wool I didn't even need to wear a coat over the top. 

I also wore my Arts & Crafts era Ruskin brooch. 

Funnily enough, we watched an old Bargain Hunt on the iplayer when we got home and one of the teams bought one for £45  (mine was 20p from a jumble sale). As I've mentioned before, there's loads of Ruskin-Style brooches out there but unless it's stamped Ruskin it ain't one.

Here's why other people's cast-offs rock my world....These Carvela for Kurt Geiger "Wallace" over the knee leather boots were pick of the week in The Guardian's fashion pages last year and retailed at £220. Mine - which had been worn twice - were £16!

Didn't that extra hour make the day interminable? I was ready for bed by 9pm on Sunday night and could only manage a chapter of my latest read before nodding off. It didn't hep that William didn't get the clocks going back memo and insisted on attacking my feet at 5am!

Monday, and another day of wearing other people's cast-offs although, to be fair, the puff sleeved Levi's denim shirt was new last year (albeit with 50% off). 

The vintage skirt was an online buy and the sheepskin hat and 1970s leather belt came from a charity shop. As I was outside taking photos most of the day, that hat was a necessity. Not sure what was going on with my hair here or why my zip was down - Jon never told me!

These amazing handmade Moroccan Kilim & leather boots were £5 (secondhand, of course.)

Sunday is nail day. This week it's Barry M's Rhubarb. I found this turquoise and silver ring beneath the chest of drawers in the bedroom, I bought it in India in 2005 but lost it years ago. 

The bracelet was a 21st birthday from my workmates when I was sous chef at a posh golf club. The silver brooch is another hand-me-down, it was my great-grandma's (my maternal grandfather's mother). Her photograph hangs on our wall. 

Jon popped round to Tony's house to put some kitchen shelves up and made some chocolate & hazelnut pinwheels to take with him, using the puff pastry left from Saturday night's pies. Tony couldn't believe he'd made them himself. The Midwinter plate (Focus by Barbara Brown) was part of a dinner set my parents had as a wedding present in 1966. 

I'm off to watch more Bodies, see you soon!