A Sicilian Coach Trip, A Nuclear Apocalypse, A Missing Schoolgirl and A Gangland Murder on the Costa del Sol

 

And that's just my weekend reading! 

I've always been a prolific reader but when the sun's out I'm positively solar-powered and get through books at an alarming rate. Thank goodness for the three for £1 shelf in the charity shop and those generous people with similar literary tastes to me. 

Maxi dress by Greek boutique label, Blu (purchased in Rhodes, 2022), rayon & filet crochet cover-up (originally River Island, £2 secondhand find), Mexican fair trade fedora (Shilpa Silver, 2018)  

Much to my joy, the record-breaking British heatwave continues with temperatures reaching the heady heights of 33°C over the weekend - almost as hot as Greece! What makes me even happier is that I can wear all my flimsier summer clothes, several of which haven't seen the light of day in years.

At 7am on Friday morning it would have been warm enough to wear the strappy maxi dress on its own to walk down to the pool but I was keen to give this pretty block printed cover-up its first outing. Dressed heat-to-toe in white with a straw hat I felt like an extra in a Merchant Ivory film....Heat or Dust or maybe, in anticipation of our post-swim Spoons' breakfast, Feast of July? 

Vintage 1970s Adini sundress (gift from blog reader, Helena in 2019), Teva crochet flatforms, 1970s Polaroids (car boot sale, 2011)

Keen to spend all day in the garden, on Saturday morning we walked into town early to pick up a few parcels and to get some rum & cola from Lidl. 

I bought this block printed scarf in Goa 25 years ago from a boutique named Happily Unmarried, a highly controversial choice of name a quarter of a century ago. Back in those days Jon and I had to pretend we were married when we were travelling as many guesthouses refused to rent rooms to unmarried couples. 

Here's Sunday's outfit. I found this pretty cotton dress on my friend, Mollie's £5 rail at End of the Road four years ago. If it had been a more "normal" size I have no doubt it would have been snapped up immediately, it really is a beauty and, like the Adini dress I wore the previous day, it has pockets! 

Vintage 1970s cotton sundress (Vintage Relics), Teva flatforms and 1970s French sunglasses (Moseley Vintage Fair, 2013

Before I became a part time mermaid I'd ever have entertained the idea of wearing small earrings but as I can't be bothered putting earrings in after my swim so I wear studs which fit beneath my cap. On Sunday I wore Evil Eyes and Mermaids Tears, tiny moonstones set in silver.

My hair's at its best a week after washing it, I can twist it into a topknot, skewer it with a single pin and it'll stay like this all day. 

Browsing Vinted the other day I spotted this maxi dress. I didn't really need it but with the proceeds going towards the Red Cross Gaza Crisis Appeal, I thought it'd be perfect for throwing on over my bikini when we nip into our favourite beach bar for an afternoon beer. 

Red Haute maxi dress worn with Fly, London platforms and prescription sunglasses (Specsavers)

The lovely seller failed to mention that the dress was 100% silk or list the make - which turned out to be a pricey American hippie-chic label with their Indian-made maxis retailing at between $170 - $210. Not bad for £6!

As always, I came back from Glastonbury with a new pair of Mexican silver earrings from Shilpa Silver. I struggle to find the right shaped earrings to wear with my 1970s Sheffield Stainless Steel choker - these are perfect! 

Anyway, I road-tested the dress when I went charity shopping this morning and I felt amazing in it, it's definitely coming away with me although it feels slightly too good to be just a beach cover-up!

I found these Fly, London leather platform sandals in Banardos this morning. I detest wedges but will make an exception for these - they're supremely comfy, the cut-out vamp reminds me of Moroccan tiles and I adore metallic footwear plus the £4 price tag helped make my mind up. These Yuti sandals retail at £119!

I couldn't resist this either! Designed in Paris and made in India, this Barok "Bohemian People" tunic with the labels still attached was a very reasonable £5 (and £90 less than the RRP).

 

I know a lot of you enjoy my traveling light posts so stay tuned, there's one coming up before the end of the week!

See you soon!

Ready To Go!

I'm back!!!!

After a full on week of sorting, mending, ironing and labelling, we're finally ready for Glastonbury. There's over 1000 items crammed into our 4x6 metre trade tent and despite the Kinky Shed being metres away from where we've erected the tent, last Saturday I walked between the two so often that I wore a bare patch in the lawn and clocked up over 5 miles on the fitness tracker on my phone! The weather has been appalling but if nothing else, it's been a good test of just how watertight the tent is.

Whilst I've been ironing, stitching hems and sewing on the odd missing button or hook and eye, Jon's repainted the shop sign and redecorated the changing room (I'll share photos on my post Glasto blog, we don't put these up on our garden dummy run). I've sewn more vintage fabric scrunchies, Jon's repurposed some old Levi's into shorts and we've repurposed things we already own to use as display props.

Will it all fit in the van? I'll let you know closer to the day!

As always, Liz came round to help with the pricing. The previous day I'd been in full-on pre-festival manic mode and been outside labelling the stock at 5am so she didn't have to do two shifts like she usually does. Needless to say she didn't leave empty handed! Nikki - she loved that 1970s green pinafore dress you sent her! 

Of course, inbetween all the prep we have managed to live with swimming figuring prominently. We've visited the baths three times and I've clocked up my usual 4600 metres (just shy of 3 miles in old money). Jon's not as obsessive as me but still managed a pretty decent 3000 metres. We need to be fit for those long festival days and nights! 

On Wednesday, as it was two-for-one ticket day, we walked down to the cinema to see The Phoenician Scheme. As I'm sure you already know, we're both huge Wes Anderson fans and absolutely loved every quirky, colourful and bonkers minute of it and like the other Anderson Obsessives in the cinema sat through until the roll of the very last credit so as not to miss a minute. Inspired by the gorgeous Liesl (played by Mia Threapleton, Kate Winslet's daughter), I wore my most vibrant green eyeshadow on Thursday.

SOURCE

The weather felt distinctly Autumnal and it was a day for a quilted waistcoat, sturdy boots and thermals. Looking back at my blog I was astounded to discover that I've owned this vintage Hindu Kush Afghan dress for seven years. I still get a thrill every time I put it on.

 

I had my nails redone on Thursday and this time my inspiration was carnelian, a semi precious stone which features in a lot of my Nepali and Tibetan jewellery. 

Pumpkin Spice sounds like that nasty sounding coffee flavour people insist on guzzling at Halloween but, unlike my last gel polish in the marvellously distinctive shade of egg yolk yellow labelled Will You Go Out With Me? at least it's an accurate reflection of the colour! 

Today I've been wearing the maxi waistcoat I made using a pair of 1970s Morris & Co Golden Lily curtains I bought from a charity shop and a vintage dressmaking pattern. I spotted the wool fedora with the orange leather band on the clearance shelf of a well-known sportswear retailer a few months back.

And my Gohill's "Exotic Snakeskin" boots which were bought in 1966 from the legendary Camden shop by my fabulous friend and ex-school teacher, Eileen (story HERE). I'm struggling with my feet at the moment - a combination of arthritis exassipated by the damp weather and a reoccurrence of the dreaded Pool Toe - thank f*ck for comfy footwear!

My second hand Aurora kaftan was a recent Vinted find - it's from Naked Generation and still available on their website. I have several vintage versions of this but they're all full length and, as I can only wear flat shoes at the moment, they trail on the floor and soak up the puddles like a sponge. This ankle-skimming length is perfect.  

I'm off to catch up with what I've missed in Blogland...see you soon! 

The Glasto Countdown

It's started! The Kinky Tent's up and the great Glastonbury countdown is on. Here's the official Glastometer (although being crew, we'll be on site a few days before the gates open to the public). The next few weeks will mostly be spent ironing, labelling, doing last minute repairs and panicking that we can't get it all in the van. I'll share more of it when we're a bit further ahead.

In the meantime here's what I've been wearing this week.

Yesterday it was the turn of this vintage 1970s Kate Beaver dress, hand printed in Dorset. I found it in a charity shop back in 2015 and paid the princely sum of £1!

 This huge Tibetan pendant popped up on Vinted the other day, part of a mixed lot of three amazing necklaces. I didn't mean to buy it but the seller offered me a very generous discount and I really couldn't say no. Although it's not stamped there is a degree of silver in it and carnelian and turquoise stones are real.

The Art Nouveau-inspired dragonfly cuff was a birthday present from Liz's mum a couple of years ago.

I've got so many pairs of sunglasses I'd forgotten about these vintage Christian Dior beauties Jon found for me back in 2019. I think the last time I wore them was when we travelled around Crete in 2020.

We've swapped our swimming days and now go to the pool on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, which I'm very happy about, the more time in the water the better. The only downside is that it's easier to throw on my trainers or velcro fastening Tevas to walk there and back so my poor clogs with their buckle fastenings rarely get a look-in. Yesterday, my beloved Lottas finally got an outing.

On Wednesday we drove over to Coventry to meet Nikki and her boyfriend, Steve. I didn't take a single photo! Nikki had been having a clear out and had some amazing vintage clothes she no longer wore, so we bought them off her for the stockroom (and I shall try to resist the temptation to keep it all!) Business attended to we had a walk around Earlsdon, the hip and happening area she lives in, had a look in the charity shops and had lunch in Spoons. I was so excited to see her that I didn't even take a photo of the carpet! (Remind me to show you the amazing pair of trousers with the £365 price tags still attached that we found in one of the shops).

Nikki and Steve visited Morrocco last month, staying in Essaouira and Marrakech. She had this  bookmark featuring my name in Arabic especially made for me. It's currently inside my latest read, The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. I've been wanting to read it for ages, he's a fascinating and deeply intelligent man, and it was a lucky 25p charity shop find a few weeks ago.

This is what I wore on although I ended up taking the headscarf off as my hair wasn't dirty enough to keep it in place. The scarf is a vintage Indian silk screen print from a charity shop, the marmalade velvet top is from All About Audrey (bought in 2023) and the dress is from the Naked Generation sample sale (bought in 2021). How well does this Tibetan necklace match? 

The nails are still going strong, three weeks in. What colour shall I go for next?  

Although we've had rain this week it's still warm and I didn't need a jacket when we walked down to the pool at 7am this morning. The skirt is the one I made under Liz's supervision using a vintage bedcover and the Butterick cowgirl dressmaking pattern. The recycled sari top is All About Audrey (bought second-hand from Vinted). You can just make out my trainer poking out from under my skirt - they're the gold Adidas Superstar reissues Jon treated me to from a charity shop last year. 

The necklace is one of the accompanying ones to the pendant I was wearing on Thursday. An American seller has the same one listed on eBay for $319! 

Its been over seven weeks since I'd had a second set of piercings so I'm safe to change them! I'm loving having double turquoise and silver studs in my ears, they made me feel a bit more glam when I pulled on my swimming cap this morning!

Jon needed a a couple of things from B&M this morning and whilst perusing the aisles I spotted this metal toilet roll holder which I thought would be perfect for bangle storage. 

I keep my cuffs in a wooden baguette chopping board - we found it in a charity shop last year - I wear bangles every day, far more often than I eat bread! 

In cat news, Gordon's getting braver and enjoys spending time indoors playing with his catnip mouse. 

William was outside in the wildflower meadow when we got home today. We clearly starve him judging by the way he's gnawing on that grass! 

Have a bostin' weekend, me babbies! See you on the other side.