Hotter Than July

What a week! I've spent most of it outside, hence my absence from Blogland. With temperatures in the low 30s, similar to those in Greece, it's been the perfect weather for road-testing my potential holiday wardrobe. 

On Tuesday, to drop a parcel off at the lockers, I wore this old favourite, a vintage gingham-trimmed cotton blend maxi dress, made in England by Uninhibited, which I bought from a charity shop back in 2011. 'Scuse the bare face, I'm in pretend I'm already on holiday mode and don't wear makeup during the day. 

As soon as I got home I changed into a bikini and spent the rest of the day basking in the sunshine. My solar powered reading continued with me starting (and finishing) Go Set A Watchman, Harper Lee's long-awaited sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird. Watchman brilliantly captures the political unrest and civil tensions of the era although I found myself shaking my head in despair, wondering how society has, in many respects, hardly moved on. If, like me, you idolised Atticus Finch in Mockingbird, if you read Go Set A Watchman be prepared to be disillusioned.

On Wednesday we tore ourselves away from the garden for an early morning swim. After our pub breakfast we headed straight back home so I could meet up with Liz. We were catching the bus to Birmingham (which leaves from the next street) to visit the Portrait Prize 2026 exhibition at the RSBA (The Royal Society of  Birmingham Artists).

It was another day of scorching temperatures and therefore the perfect opportunity to test out this vintage 1970s maxi by the sought-after British Boutique designer, David Silverman. His clothes often command prices in the £££s and I've been exceptionally lucky to find a couple of dresses under £20 on Vinted. 

We couldn't resist a look in the BHF charity shop in the city centre where I scored the cutest 1970s C&A cat jumper ever....

The exhibition was incredible, so much talent! Admission is free and the exhibition runs until 13th June, details HERE.

The top picture, Maria Asleep on Mum's Sofa by Nic Dillon was awarded Second Prize. 

This spectacular painting is also on the cover of the programme. It is part of The "Hagitude" series by British artist Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton RBSA. The artwork is inspired by Sharon Blackie's book, Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life, and explores themes of female empowerment, ageing, and the reclaiming of feminine power.

Jane French's ‘Lady Helen of Westhill’ is a response to John Singer Sargent's ‘Lady Agnew of Lochnaw’ as Helen is often told she looks like Lady Agnew. I loved the buttercup yellow opaques and the Lego bouquet.

Rikki Niehaus, Lloyd And Horace

 I couldn't take my eyes off the eyes in this painting! 

 We ate at Morridge, an uber cool independent cafe in the Great Western Arcade with a groovy 1970s-inspired interior and a fantastic menu. We ordered goats cheese salads and pots of tea and had change from a tenner!

 

After a mooch around Monsoon & Accessorize, drooling over some incredible clothes (the embroidered maxi dress I fell in love with was £180...I shall be stalking Vinted!) we caught the bus back home. Thanks for a fab day, Liz!

Whilst I was out Jon had done a tip run and of course, couldn't resist the lure of the Tip Shop, coming back with two 12" singles and two albums; David Essex's All The Fun of the Fair (1975) and Sonny & Cher Live (1971). I'm not sure about David Essex but who doesn't love Cher? 

Thursday was tree day and our huge London Planes finally got a haircut. As most of the trees in our garden are subject to TPOs (Tree Preservation Orders) we'd had to apply for permission from the council, this was granted last year but it's taken months to find an approved arborist prepared to take on the work. 

Leaving the five-strong crew to get stuck in we headed over to B&Q. I wanted to plant up our Victorian chimney pots so I needed some plastic liners and a variety of colourful flowers and trailing plants. As luck would have it there was 20% off everything and it worked out cheaper to buy a couple of ready planted pots than to buy everything separately. We noticed that the offer also applied to the plants in the 50% clearance departments so we also bought a Scabius, a Fashionista Salvia, a pot of Thyme (the smell of Greece!) and some Hidcote English Lavender for a fraction of the normal price.

By the time we returned the crew had finished. We watered the plants, left them in the shade and spent the rest of the day in the garden. I'd run out of books but luckily I'd recently downloaded some in preparation for our trip so I started The Stoning by Peter Papathanasiou, a gripping political thriller about George Manolis, a charismatic Greek-Australian detective, sent from the city to investigate a grisly murder in the Outback.  I loved it!

Despite a mixed forecast for Friday, I dressed in a 1970s Hawaiian print halterneck maxi for our early morning swim and although there was a brief shower, the rest of the day was another cracker. 

After a brief look around the charity shops we spent another day in the garden.  Jon spotted this Cutlery Drainer by TG Green, it's not vintage Cornishware, it's from their contemporary range but a real bargain at 50p! 

On Friday night we watched Ken Loach's The Old Oak on the i-player, a film about a struggling pub landlord in a deprived, former-mining town, the community divided after Syrian refugees are placed in empty houses. I've loved Ken Loach ever since I saw Up The Junction in my early teens and this didn't disappoint. A film that shows the best (and the worst) of the British. 

I had a parcel to drop off on Saturday morning so, after breakfast, Jon and I wandered down to the Lidl lockers before spending the day in the garden. 

Later we watched another film, Mud. Two teenage boys take a boat out to a deserted island in the Mississippi attempting to make a treehouse, but find somebody there, Mud, a tough guy who becomes the boys' secret friend, but back on the mainland they see Mud's face on a wanted poster, and their secret becomes more and more toxic. Matthew McConaughey is such a great actor and an admirable human being in real life. 

On Sunday morning I had another parcel to drop off - my exercise for the day! This was the day that weather was supposed to break but it was good enough to spend outside reading. I'd started another ebook the previous day, Ascension, a spy thriller by Oliver Harris. Frustratingly, the battery in my Kobo went flat during the denouement, so I had an impatient half-an-hour waiting for it to charge.   

After we'd caught up with Widow's Bay and Criminal Record we started watching For All Mankind, a stylish alternative reality series about the Space Race. Sci-fi usually bores me to tears but I'm really enjoying it.

 Kobo (my ereader) has hundreds of free books on their website, so I had a browse after tea and downloaded a few including The Executions, which I started reading last night. According to the blurb, It’s 1892, Indian Territory. A war is brewing in the Choctaw Nation as two political parties fight out issues of old and new ways. Caught in the middle is eighteen-year-old Ruth Ann, a Choctaw who doesn’t want to see her family killed. I'm a huge fan of the Netflix series, Dark Winds and am fascinated with the Choctaw (but I'm a little concerned that the book is classed as Christian literature).

As it's Monday we started the day with an early morning swim (blissfully quiet) followed by breakfast in Spoons. In one of the charity shops we noticed that someone had got rid of all their Philippa Gregory collection and I managed to find three I hadn't read - although I could be wrong - at leat I've got an alternative if The Executions gets a bit too god-bothery! 

As it had been almost a fortnight and I still hadn't heard from the hopsital, I did as the radiologist had advised and popped into the surgery where the receptionist told me that they'd got my X-rays but they'd yet to be read. I was tempted to ask her to let me have a look as, in my dim and distant past, I used to read X-rays and write referral letters. She's booked me in for an appointment in a fortnight's time so I suppose I'd better just be a patient patient (something I'm not very good at!)

So many people stopped and complimented me on my outfit today, I even got told that I was the only only person in the world who could make a walking stick look cool! The dress is one of several Mrs Kaur of the haberdashery stall persuaded me to buy off her £5 rail last year. 

I managed a teeny bit of gardening before the heavens opened hence the reason I'm indoors writing a blog post! I'm so sorry I've not replied to your comments and messages or visited any blogs this week, I shall endeavour to catch-up over the next few days (sunshine permitting).

See you soon!!