Everyday Life Continued...

Hello! Here's another three days of everyday life.

Tuesday morning started, as it usually does, with a 30 minute workout which invariably takes much longer as, being the only human up. I'm at the beck and call of the cats.

Not Gordon, so-named after we discovered he wasn't the Gordon our neighbours, who used to look after the residents of the neighbourhood cat colony, has reverted back to being just Gordon. AWOL for days during the Summer, he's recently moved back into the catio and demands food on, what almost seems like, an hourly basis. If the door's open, he'll lounge around indoors - until William gets fed up with him taking liberties and chases him away. He loves catnip Trump and the other day ran away with him and buried him in the garden.... give that cat a Nobel Peace prize! 

Hopefully we'll be able to get to the vet soon and get those pompoms removed. 

After breakfast we drove over to Birmingham as the dentist needed a 3D scan of Jon's head for his implants. It was a gorgeous morning, making our drive through the leafy suburbs of Harborne and Edgbaston even more beautiful.

I wore my hand-printed 1970s Kate Beaver maxi dress, bought from a charity shop 11 years ago for 99p (HERE).  

Liz called round after lunch and we drove over to Bilston to stock up on larder supplies at Rogers (HERE). It's brilliant if you're not fussy about best before dates and have plenty of storage space as you can only buy by the case or in catering sizes.

We bought two cases of passata, a case of tinned white beans; couscous with Lebanese herbs and Korean spicy noodles. An industrial sized tub of vegetarian bouillon, cases of 100% durum wheat pasta, basmati rice, stir fry sauces, vegan jelly crystals and Mangalore and Goan curry sauce packs (fabulous for festivals). Jon was very good, not swayed by the cases of chocolate or crisps but did cave in when he spotted Hubba Bubba bubblegum..I'm not sure if you still get the Bazooka Joe tattoos inside, I'll have to let you know! 

Back at home I had more time for some fashion sketching...

Saturday night's school reunion dress.

Last Tuesday's outfit (above) and what I wore on Monday.

Wednesday was a swimming day and, happily for those less hardy than me, the boiler had been fixed and the water was back to the normal temperature. Again I swam 2km. We didn't bother with the charity shops after our Wetherspoons breakfast, just popping into B&M for a tin of coffee before walking back home.  Of course, we didn't leave the shop with just the coffee, I couldn't resist this pack of coloured pencils.

Jon did another tip run, depositing another couple of sacks of garden waste and dropping off the books we'd recently finished at the on-site charity shop. Meanwhile I watered the houseplants and pegged the washing out.

I'm wearing a 1970s St Michael embroidered wool blouse, a charity shopped Moroccan leather belt and my vintage India Imports of Rhode Island maxi skirt. 

 Using my new coloured pencils, I did a bit more doodling in my fashion sketchbook. 

 I finally sorted out my travel wardrobe for our upcoming trip! As my friend Betty correctly guessed, we're off to Greek island. Its the latest in the season we've been before and I've been following the weather apps like a woman posessed to get my packing just right (there's no margin for error when you only travel with carry-on). Anyway, the average daytime temperature is currently around 21°C dropping to 16°C at night with the sea at a delicious 23°C! We've visited this island before and there's loads to do (and an excellent bus service) should it not be beach weather. 

Clothing (clockwise from left): Art silk maxi dress (Mrs Kaur's £5 rail), Sari silk kaftan (Vinted), velvet wrap top (Vinted), silk tunic (Vinted), 2 x Anokhi cotton maxi dresses (one bought new in Mumbai, the other from Vinted), silky wrap top (All About Audrey) and a kantha riding jacket (which used to be Nikki's)

Jewellery: 2 x leather wrap bracelets, my turquoise & silver pendant, six rings, my turquoise earrings,  and my Shilpa Silver fishtail earrings. 

Fringed leather bag (charity shop), Teva platform sandals, FatFace reversible bikini (Vinted), 2 x vintage scarves (charity shop), Accessorize cord cap (Vinted), Adidas Superstar 90s (charity shop), Accessorize metallic jute bag (charity shop).

And here's what I'm wearing to travel in, in art form!

We saw Uprising on Wednesday night, Paul "Bourne Identity" Greengrass's film about the real-life Peasant Revolt of 1381. With half of England's population dead from the Black Death, the corrupt oligarths who have the ear of boy king, Richard II, use their positions to enrich themselves whilst oppressing the peasantry. Inspired by the actions of a bereaved ploughman, the peasants rise up and march to London to confront the king. It's a brutal and well-acted watch with a startling contemporary resonance. During the pandemic I researched our family trees, whereas my family line is mostly peasant stock, Lord Jon's is far more illustrious including much of the Plantagenet family (of which Richard II belonged). If we'd been around in Mediaeval England, we'd have been on opposing sides! 

Woody Norman, the actor who plays 14 year old Richard II and looking like the love child of Jack White & Harry Styles! 

Thursday started with a thirty minute Wii fit workout, which was interrupted by me dashing outside to capture the stunning sunrise. After breakfast I dusted and vacuumed downstairs whilst Jon scrubbed the shower and did some washing.

I wore a vintage block printed Indian cotton midi dress I bought from the flea market in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife for 4 Euros along with a 1970s Chelsea Girl waistcoat. I added boots to go outside and do some more leaf sweeping. 

  

I spent the afternoon reading. Never let it be said that my taste in books isn't varied. This week I've followed the exploits of a 19th Century nun shooting her way across America and now it's a friendship between a widow and a Giant Pacific Octopus (passed on from Josy, a friend from swimming). It's a very usual and rather lovely read! (Also, according to the cover, a film on Netflix).

Thanks for reading....see you soon!