Lost In Music

There was a distinctly musical flavour to the weekend as we watched two of the DVDs we'd bought from the Air Ambulance charity shop; Mamma Mia and the Spandau Ballet docudrama, Soul Boys of the Western World along with the brilliant Pet Shop Boys interview with Alan Yentob currently on the iPlayer. 

Amazingly, we had a couple of dry days enabling Johnny the builder to finish repointing the brickwork and for us to finally to repot our houseplants, an outdoor task we'd had to postpone for a while.

Only having three windows with sills and, due to the veritable forest in our garden, our interior is perpetually gloomy so finding suitable spaces for houseplants to thrive can be a bit of a challenge.

We've divided the spider plants and the Mother-in-Law's Tongues. Our friends, Claire & Gareth, gave us Cactus Cawood (so-named in honour of Sarah Lancashire's character in Happy Valley) last year after I'd mentioned that I have no luck with cacti - she's still alive! 

When I bought this Umbrella plant in 2020 it was 12" high. We've had to lop a bit off the top as it's now too tall for the house! Don't worry, we've managed to root the cuttings and pot them up.

I had a bit of a brainwave and suggested we put a shelf across the window at the top of the stairs so we could accomodate a few more plants. As luck would have it, Jon had some vintage Singer brackets in the shed and found an offcut from an old skirting board in the woodpile and my idea became a reality. 

 This Peace Lily was 75p from the B&Q clearance shelf in December 2010.

Our friend Tina gave me this cheese plant many years ago, it's very happy in the hallway. 

Our lovely mates, Lynn & Phillip sent me the orchid as a get well present when I had Iritis (I'm back at the hospital tomorrow, wish me luck!), I've never had an orchid before it it seems to be quite happy. There's some of the Umbrella plant offspring from the beast in the middle room.

I spent half an hour watching some hair tutorials with this gorgeous young woman on YouTube and had a go at her droopy braid hack . After some vigorous housework I'm happy to report that my hair stayed intact all day. I got Jon to give me a trim after I'd washed my hair - the first time a pair of scissors had been near my hair since 1st April, 2022! 

Before meeting Tony in the pub, we'd intended to spend Monday morning clearing up the front of the house but needless to say, rain stopped play. I wore the handmade kaftan I'd found on Vinted for £3 and my green cowboy boots (Vinted, £10). Can you tell that I'd had a whole inch lopped off my hair? It's now 32" long. 

The weather was grim, Wetherspoons was rammed and I had my favourite Mangalorean cauliflower curry for lunch. We met Tony at 12.30 and stumbled out of the pub seven hours later delighted to discover that the rain had finally stopped. 

Today's been a typical Tuesday with swimming (a personal best, 45 lengths in 30 minutes, a skinful of lager is obviously very good for you!), a Spoons breakfast and a look around the chazzas. I wore this Zara satin maxi dress (£3 via the clearance charity shop), my charity shopped River Island "Gimp" cap (£1) and a vintage 70s Anokhi block printed waistcoat (£9, Vinted). 

Not particularly warm (a feeble 9°C) but mercifully dry, we've spent most of today doing the outdoor tidying we wanted to do yesterday. We've got to keep the pots to a minimum as the next job is having the exterior painted. The painter was hoping to come next month but, with the incessant rain, he's running a few weeks behind schedule so Stonecroft will continue to look a bit shabby for a while yet. 

We're off to meet up with friends for the live screening of the National Theatre's production of Nye starring Michael Sheen this evening at Walsall Light. As our lovely local cinema has a bar & also sells artisan pizza, we're making a night of it.

The musical flavour continues as I've managed to blag a couple of last minute tickets for a gig on Thursday night, I'll report back soon!