Mamma Mia, Here I Go Again

Hello, lovely people. Here's what's been happening in my world since I last posted.

On Wednesday, for a morning of charity shopping, I wore an All About Audrey block printed midi dress with my Rawhide coat, a vintage tooled leather belt (both charity shopped),  Clarks platform boots & my trusty plum fedora.

 On Thursday, for swimming and a 'Spoons breakfast, it was a Dilli Grey cord maxi skirt, a Pink Lemons Indian block print cotton blouse and some second-hand Toast cowboy boots. At the baths I learnt that one of the regulars had died last week, within hours of us chatting to her, with a catastrophic bleed to the brain. I'd been dithering about flight prices for weeks but after that news I went straight home and booked a trip to our beloved Paleokastritsa in Corfu (below). That will be our third holiday this year, tut tut. 

 I don't want to tick things off bucket lists or make f*cking memories (that phrase makes me so inexplicably angry I want to punch a wall whenever I hear it). With my family's track record of Dementia and Alzheimer's, I'll be lucky to remember my own name in a few years time, I just want to live in the moment and for whatever time we have left to be filled with joy and for me, that means travel. 

 Today (Friday) I left Jon to the papering and popped into town for a few supplies. I wore a Levi's denim shirt with an embroidered cotton dress from the Monsoon 2022 sale over the top (which is a lot more vibrant in real life but my camera couldn't cope with the sunshine) plus a green fedora (Monsoon, 2022), my Clarks boots and a 1950s Tyrolean tapestry belt. So many people commented on how much they loved my style my head was swollen by the time I got home.

Yep, that's the true colour of my dress, worn with my monogrammed silver brooch, inherited from my maternal great-great grandma, Mary Alice Chapman (1817 - 1882), shown wearing it in the photo below.

Talking of old stuff, here's this week's secondhand finds...

Clockwise from top left: Dusky rose off-the-shoulder top (mine!); 1980s Art of Silk Jungle Book print waistcoat from Tie Rack; Mexican cotton maxi dress (love it but I've got an almost identical one already); 1970s pink polyester maxi dress; 1980s scribble print ra-ra dress (fabriqué en Francais!); Vintage Guayabera dress; 1970s smoking jacket; 1970s cheesecloth dagger collar blouse; New with tags Marks & Spencer fringed poncho; People Tree organic cotton midi dress; Edinburgh hoodie (made in Scotland); 1970s crushed velvet bolero, made in the USA for Niki; Handmade tweed waistcoat; Kappa hoodie (big with the kids at the mo); Fake fur & vinyl bomber; Oasis 1960s-style Princess coat; 1980s Casual Club leisure shirt and another vintage Guayabera dress (we often buy & sell the shirts but the dress version is new to me!)

I was fascinated by this - a straw briefcase which must have been donated by an employee from the Court of Appeal in the Bahamas. How on earth did it end up in the Black Country?!

Here's the Court of Appeal in Nassau where it would have been carried into work every day.

Jon thinks we could use it as a prop to create a Bahamian version of Death In Paradise which he absolutely loves and I refuse point blank to watch (I hate twee crime shows, I won't watch another of his favourites, Midsomer Murders, either!)

Not that I don't appreciate a bit of mindless entertainment...the Ambo (aka the Air Ambulance charity shop) was selling 3 DVDs for a quid yesterday but as we're their favourite customers they insisted we took 4. I was absolutely appalled when I first watched Mamma Mia! on an Air India flight in the noughties but over the years I've embraced the utter ridiculousness of both it and the sequel. This brand new copy of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a special Sing-A-Long version, all the more fun with a few rum 'n' colas. Watching it'll make me even more excited than I already am for our two upcoming trips to Greece!  As I'm sure you'll know, we both adore Wes Anderson so The Grand Budapest Hotel was an absolute must and who can resist a film about one of my early teenage favourites, Spandau Ballet? It's described as Sex, Drugs and Shoulder Pads which made me laugh out loud.

My friend Jan wanted to see a photo of Jacob so here he is, basking in this afternoon's sun. He's been inside for a few days as we've had some freakish frosty starts but that bit of sunshine on his shell has powered him up and he's stomping around his pen, chomping on dandelions. 

And for those of you new to my blog (where have you been?) here's my mum, brother Marcus and I with Jacob in 1975 back in the days when Stonecroft was my grandparents' house - that's our kitchen window, still full of houseplants. 

The garden is awash with wild garlic and bluebells.

And William is working hard in his supervisory capacity, keeping an eye on Johnny the builder. 

The poor house is in a sorry state with the ongoing repointing work but I'm sure it'll all come right in the end, it's stood since 1750. 

I'm hoping that the weekend forecast for sunshine and warmth is correct, I want to get my houseplants repotted inbetween doing a bit of reading! I've just finished Hitman Anders & the Making of It All, which was a bit daft and I was quite pleased to get to the end of it. Next on the reading pile is Playing Cards in Cairo and Johnny Marr, The Smiths & The Art of Gun Slinging. I've also got the small matter of a cabin bag to pack....

Me and my glamorous assistant wish you a very happy weekend. See you on the other side!