Bugonia, Books and Our Mystery Cat

 

Remember that parcel of vintage clothes fellow blogger Katie sent me back in the Summer? I thought I'd give this amazing silk brocade coat an outing when we popped over to B&Q (the DIY superstore) this morning. 

Some label porn for my fellow vintage fans.

I should really have polished these vintage 1960s go-go boots before snapping a photo. I bought them from a car boot sale in the early 2000s and they used to feature regularly on the blog. I dropped them off with our fabulous independent cobbler last week as they needed reheeling and he only charged me £5.95 - bargain! 

Under my coat I wore the printed velvet skirt which belongs to my 1970s New Generation suit (which I wore to my school reunion last month) and a vintage Ayesha Davar cheesecloth blouse. 

Of course, we couldn't just buy the DIY bits we'd gone for, we had to leave with a coconut palm as well (well it was reduced by 50%...it would have been rude not to!)

Our house looks more like a jungle by the week! 

Here's a few more recent charity shop finds, all destined for the stockroom, with the exception of this gorgeous hand-rolled silk scarf featuring the Morris & Co. Compton print which, by coincidence, I found in our local Compton Hospice charity shop. The Wolverhampton-based hospice is based at Compton Hall where William Morris once stayed. Can you believe it was only 75p? 

 Other finds include this silk chiffon 1950s cocktail dress...

 And the holy grail of vintage knitwear, a Pendleton cardi, made in Portland, Oregon.

There's also a 1990s bias cut chiffon maxi, a 1980s mohair cardi, a 1980s shell top, a 1960s suede jerkin, a 1970s midi skirt by A Line Jayne, a Simon Ellis 1960s trippy kimono wrap top, a 1980s C&A parka, a 1960s crepe baby doll mini dress, a 1980s Indian silk and bugle bead butterfly dress (I sell lots of the tops, this is the first dress I've ever come across) and a 1980s ILGWU snazzy leisure shirt.

Jon bought Alan Bennett's Writing Home for 50p and when we got home discovered that it was a signed edition.

A couple of days later I picked up this book for £2, telling the true story of the friendship between former Bond Girl, Fiona Fullerton, who played a soviet spy in A View to a Kill and the suspected Soviet spy, Alexander Alexandrowicz and, yet again, I didn't realise it had been signed by Fiona Fullerton until I got it home!

Charity shopping, the gift that keeps on giving! 

In cat news, the cat who we've always thought to be the community cat (and William's brother) Gordon isn't Gordon at all! He was lounging in William's catio this morning when we were chatting to the neighbours who care for the local cat colony and when we showed them how settled he was told us that he wasn't the cat they know as Gordon and had never seen him before! He's not chipped and isn't neutered....

He's spent the last few nights sleeping in the catio and we're pretty sure it won't be long before he joins us indoors. But now we've discovered that he's not Gordon what on earth do we call him? 

And on to another subject...films! Last night we saw the mind-bending, absurdist black comedy Bugonia at Walsall Light. Directed by the creative genius that is Yorgos "Poor Things" Lanthimos, it's about rurally isolated, conspiracy-obsessed cousins who kidnap the CEO of a major company when they become convinced that she's an alien who wants to destroy the world. 

The performances of Emma Stone (who plays kidnapped executive, Rebecca Fowler) and Jesse Plemons (who plays Teddy who, mistrustful of mainstream media, falls down a rabbit hole of capitalist and elitist conspiracies) are utterly mesmerising. 

Catch it if you can!

I'm off to comfort the cats. First it was Diwali, then Vaisakhi and tonight it's Guy Fawkes. With a fortnight of 'seemingly incessant fireworks, I'm begining to think we're in The Somme. 

See you soon.