Roots Manoevre

 

On Tuesday morning the windows were rattling as Storm Chandra unleashed her wrath but, by the time I'd done my Wii Fit workout and had breakfast, it had passed over and the weather had reverted back to the usual dismal drizzle.

The sodden ground ruled out wearing a maxi so I went for a midi instead. I've worn this 1970s dress at festivals in the past. Typical of a cocktail dress of the era, it has a cheeky peek-a-boo cut-out at the waist, great for festivals but not really ideal for January, so I wore a skinny polo neck underneath and covered the flesh-baring bit with a vintage Indian pendant. These Clarks' tan leather Fernwood Oasis knee-high boots were a £8.99 charity shop find before Xmas, still with their original store stickers on the sole. They currently retail at £160 - and they say our town is the most deprived in the UK!  

Our mission was to drop the books we'd finished reading off at the town's newest charity shops. As on previous visits, we left the charity shop empty-handed, it really is the place where fast fashion goes to die - although that doesn't stop the other shoppers piling their trollies high with Primarni, Shein and numerous other horrific brands.

Jaipur, January 2019

After a couple of hours of housework (honest!) I got Jon to help me to touch up my roots as it had been seven weeks since they'd last been done. Long-time readers will remember that I used to dye my hair jet black, the last time being in January 2019 a few days before we went off to India. As usual, when I got home a few weeks later, my lengths had lightened in the sun (I've only ever used a semi-permanent colour) and so, when I coloured it next, went for a shade lighter and only did my roots. I've never dyed the ends since, just doing the roots and going progressively lighter until, on Tuesday, I went for the lightest yet....

The box doesn't lie, even after seven weeks there's no harsh root line, just masses of silver, I can live with that. 

We continued watching series two of After the Flood after tea. I wasn't sure about it at first but a few episodes into the first series the pace picked up and there's some genuinely terrifying moments. We turned the TV off with one episode left to go, gasping with horror!

On Wednesday I wore a Collier Campbell for Liberty 1970s wool maxi dress (a gift from G'n'T 10 years ago).  

Our swim was followed by a Spoons breakfast and a mooch around the charity shops, snaffling a vintage 1980s sequinned bolero by Phaze, a pretty 1970s chiffon blouse with dagger collars, made in France by Liliane Burty, Paris and a midi dress by one of Princess Di's favourite labels, Ghost (this is from their 1980s collection, not the recent range for M&S). 

 

After tea, with it being a Wednesday, we cracked open the rum. We watched the concluding episode of After The Flood and a bit more of Those About to Die. One of my favourite things about dramas set in Ancient Rome is the jewellery and the hair...how fabulous do the three main characters, Sarah Martins, Lara Wolff and Gabriella Pession look?

On Thursday, after my Wii Fit workout and breakfast, I walked down to the lockers on Vinted business before cleaning the guest bedroom aka my dressing room.

 I've heard talk of a strange tribe known as Minimalists, I'm not sure if I've ever met one in real life and am not sure I'd want to! 

This dress was one of two Vinted purchases that turned up on Wednesday. It was £5, how could I not buy it?! A couple of the seams had come undone, which the seller had mentioned in the listing and which I'd repaired in less than ten minutes. The dress reeked of that hideous artifical floral smell that loads of people insist on washing their clothes in so I'd chucked it in the washing machine with a liberal glug of white vinegar in the detergent drawer and it had worked its magic with no smell whatsoever (and being Crimplene, it drip-dried in no time!)

 

Synthetics have their advantages in the Winter, they're warm, dry quickly when you get caught in the rain and those gaudy colours are sometimes so necessary when the weather is dismal.

My second Vinted parcel also needed a bit of work, which I've done this afternoon. If you thought my trippy '70s midi was a bargain, wait until you see my other buy!

See you soon.