After a week of wandering around in state of befuddlement, I'm happy to say that the Glastonbury brain fog has dissipated and we're back to firing on all cylinders.
Whilst still recovering, on Saturday we decided to pop over and surprise Liz who, along with other members of Walsall Society of Artists, were hosting a private viewing of their annual Summer show. After a 40 minute journey we pulled into the car park at Himley Hall in Worcestershire only to realise that we'd got the venue wrong and the exhibition was actually at Weston Park in the county of Staffordshire. Oh dear! After another 45 minutes we arrived at our destination albeit fashionably late.
Liz, Al & Jon
How gorgeous is Liz's artwork featuring vintage ceramics?
Other than that longer than expected journey it's been a pretty chilled out week, the van still hasn't been unpacked but I've managed to read four books, I've swum three miles ( it would have been four but I seemed to have spent most of today's session chatting), we've been charity shopping, had two Spoons breakfasts and topped up my tan as the great British heatwave continues.
Having finished Yellowstone we moved on to the prequel, 1883, which we loved. Just like in Yellowstone, there's some incredible female characters and their costumes are bloody gorgeous.
Inspired by Noemi, played by beautiful newcomer Gratiela Brancusi, I've been wearing headscarves which not only stop my scalp from sizzling in the sunshine but also so that I can keep my hair in braids whilst hiding the fuzziness I get from wearing a swimming cap.
The earrings are another pair my friend Caroline brought back for me from Delhi.
The only thing vintage about my outfit is my Indian silk screen printed headscarf (and me!) The embroidered linen skirt was orignally Zara but bought secondhand via Vinted and the orange cotton blouse was from Monsoon.
The Twister nails are still going strong three weeks later.
Here's what I wore today....
Another vintage silk scarf from my collection, a River Island block printed cotton jacket (£2, secondhand find!) and a vintage India Imports of Rhode Island maxi dress I've had since 2018.
We've been to the cinema this afternoon in the cinema to see The Ballard of Ellis Island, a touchingly bittersweet comedy co-written and starring comedian Tim Key about an ecentric lottery winner who tries to reunite his favourite folk band by attempting to host a gig on a remote Welsh island. Richard Curtis reckons it's one of the best British movies of all time. Many thanks to our mate Nigel at the swimming pool who recommended it. Catch it if you can - if you don't love it as much as we did there's no hope for you!
I'm meeting Nikki in Birmingham for a day of culture and curry. Sundress, sun cream and sandals at the ready, it's going to be a scorcher!
Time for another jungle photoshoot and with temperatures exceeding 30°C this week I've been wearing as little as possible.
I was going to save this amazing Indian cotton tassel trimmed maxi (bought second hand!) for my next holiday but couldn't resist giving it an outing to the swimming pool/ Wetherspoons on Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday morning we bagged up the stock and packed the van.
I seem to wear this 1970s Anokhi co-ord (bought from the original owner) at the same time every year. Its decorated with Bandhani, a 5000 year old Indian tie-dye technique.
I had this turquoise necklace custom-made in Rhodes Town in 2022. The silver fishtail earrings were from our festival mates, Shilpa Silver.
We'd booked two for one cinema tickets for what we thought was the 15:15 performance but when I checked the confirmation email at 13:13 it turned out that we'd booked the 13:15 performance, cue a mad dash into town, arriving seconds before the film started.
Described as a windswept Samurai Western set in apocalyptic Scotland, it follows Tornado, a young woman seeking vengeance after her father's Samurai puppet show is ambushed by a notorious gang. It's beautiful, bloody and brilliant. Catch it if you can.
Jon loves a wafty shirt on a hot day. This was a £5 find on Vinted (it retails for £95)!
William's been spending most of his time under the ferns, joining us on the lawn in the late afternoon. Its a hard life!
On Thursday morning we took down the Gala tent and squeezed it into the van.
People are amazed by how we can fit a 6 X 4 metre marquee, over 1000 items of stock, our awning, carpets, drapes, lighting, shop signage, coat hangers, rails, freestanding mannequins, a changing room, fire fighting equipment, bedding, chairs, a fridge, shelving, a gas hob, gas bottles, three tables, enough food and drink to sustain us for eight days , toiletries, kitchen utensils, a tool kit and enough clothing to keep us cool/dry/warm and f*cking fabulous for the duration.
I don't know how we do it either!
I changed out of my workout gear into a Indian cotton Star Mela embroidered maxi dress (£5, Vinted and last seen in Corfu back in July, 2023) to walk down to Lidl a bit later.
I don't bother washing my hair for the duration of Glastonbury, wearing it braided for the first half of the week. I usually do French braids but I've been practising my Dutch/Boxer braids this week, that's when the front and back sections of the plait are pulled over, as opposed to under, the centre section.
More Mexican silver earrings from Shilpa Silver. I bought the Tibetan silver back from India for my Mum in 2000.
This morning started with a swim, our last for a while.
It's official, parts of the UK are having a heatwave...yay! I usually only wear this vintage 1970s maxi in Greece but, at 7am it was warm enough to leave the house wearing it.
Today I got my Glastonbury manicure. This is Twister, named after the iconic ice lolly. I love it! They also do Calypso, an eye searing orange, I might go for that next.
Before getting my nails done I sorted out my Glasto wardrobe. I usually take the same clothes so I was excited to try out a few recent additions , a vintage liquid bronze halter neck maxi (£4, Vinted)
A 1960s silver lurex maxi (same Vinted seller, same price!)
And a glittery silver crop top (a Xmas present from Liz)
Ta-dah! There's also a bikini, a horned headdress, wellies, cowboy boots, flatforms, slides, thermals, a sheepskin hat, beer mittens, a nightie, knickers, socks and my trusty bum bag.
Gordon's been sharing Jon's ham today, he wouldn't stay still long enough for a decent photo!
Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will already know that we lost Jacob on Wednesday. We thought he was getting over the rat attack but it turns out it was just too much for him. Thanks to everyone for their kind words. RIP Jacob (1975 - 2025)
As usual I'll be posting Glasto updates on Facebook. If you're not on there I'll see you in July.
PS: Apologies for not responding to comments and falling behind on blog reading, that's tomorrow's task!
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