A trip to London and down memory lane...

Last Wednesday, I walked with the Ramblers after a break of two weeks;  I was invigilating on the two previous Wednesdays. There are some evening walks coming up which I am looking forward to. I love evening walking. There's a special evening walk on the 21st June which will be the longest day of the year and it's starting at 8.30 pm - in the pub!

I changed into this outfit after walking 7.5 miles. I bought the scarf with pearls in a charity for 1.00; the top and trousers are also charity shopped. The scarf is to compensate for a low neckline; it was too warm to put a camisole under this top. All jewellery charity shopped.

The trousers from M&S have gone to the charity shop bag. They're too long and too big and do nothing for me even though they are cool and comfortable in the hotter weather. My new pink floral trousers  bought on a recent rummage in Stevenage and Hitchin are their replacement; one in and one out wherever possible...

These are my new (retail) shoes. They have a t strap which you can't see in this photo.

I walked again on Thursday - another 7 miles. It was a very warm day; 25 degrees by the time I finished.  I was trying to recce a new walk for the Ramblers Winter Programme. I tried a footpath I hadn't tried before but it took me nowhere. Not because it didn't lead anywhere but because the footpath was so overgrown I couldn't see where it was meant to take me. I walked around the perimeter of a huge field; climbed over a gate in a farmyard (naughty Veronica!) and found myself a few feet away from where I started!

Everything is charity shopped. The linen top is a French label but I can't remember where I found it; likewise the three quarter leggings.

Mary Jane's bought in a charity shop in Ely in May 2016.

Headscarf and all jewellery charity shopped. The earrings were one of  the three for a 1.00 I bought on last Saturday's rummage in Hitchin.

On Friday, I took my middle grandson to London for a day out. He wanted to go to the Houses of Parliament so we had a guided tour. This was taken on the tube to Westminster.

The  House of Commons terrace where you can take tea...

I look very rotund in this photo taken outside Westminster Abbey!

Tunic; charity shopped; trousers; Lidl last summer; Mary Jane's charity shopped; all jewellery charity shopped except earrings bought online. I bough the African print bag at a car boot sale a couple of weeks back.

We had a lovely day; we went to Canary Wharf (his choice); the Monument and then I took him on a tour of the area where I grew up and went to school i.e. Maida Vale/Paddington.

This is the first house I ever lived in; 144 Elgin Avenue, London W.9.  I was born in 1954. Mum and Dad rented one room in this rather posh house. I checked today's house prices on this street; a one bedroom flat for 785.000; three bedroom flat 999,900; a four bedroom flat over a million. These are flats not houses! It is absolutely incredible and to my mind, obscene.

When my brother Mark was due, Mum, Dad and I moved here:

I spent the next 13 years of my life in this 3 roomed basement flat with my parents and two brothers. We had no bathroom, an outside toilet; no central heating or hot water. I shared a room with my brothers until I was almost 15 years old; my parents slept on a sofa that converted to a bed all the years we lived here. Relatives from Ireland came and stayed - sometimes for months at a time until they got established and moved out.

Again, I checked the prices of properties in this street; a three bedroom maisonette; 1,395.000. A four bedroom house 1,800,000. My parents privately rented throughout the 1950s and 1960s; in the early 1960s Mum and Dad got the opportunity to buy the entire house above for a little over 700.00! My Dad didn't want a mortgage - he was a strictly cash up front person - so they declined the landlord's offer...

In 1969 having been on the housing list since I was born; Mum and Dad moved to a council maisonette in this house in Portnall Road, W9.

The top left hand window was my bedroom - the box room! We had a bathroom and indoor toilet; a separate living and dining room; Mum and Dad had their own bedroom and my brothers shared a bedroom. It was heaven to us.

I checked the prices on this street, too. A one bedroom flat; 500,000. Two bedroom maisonette; 699.000. Not as pricey as the other two streets but a whole house must sell for over 1,000,000. Astonishing - and still obscene. How on earth are ordinary working people ever going to afford to buy anywhere to live in London? The rents are also ridiculous; eldest grandson spends 70% of his earnings on rent.

This was my old school - Paddington and Maida Vale High School for Girls (PMVHS). It was situated in Elgin Ave near to the first house I ever lived in and it took me less than 10 minutes to walk to school.

I asked my grandson what he thought of where I grew up and his reply was - 'all the house you lived in are the same'. This was very true; all Victorian terraced houses. There was a huge house building boom in the Victorian era and many of us continue to live in and love these old houses.

On Saturday I went to see my son. Everything charity shopped except the shoes. Dress by Mantaray; jacket by M & S bought in Kettering for 4.00.

All jewellery charity shopped except watch.

Necklace bought in Derry for 2.50.

Woke up on Sunday to more terrible news.

Top; Store 21 sale; trousers; Primark, charity shopped 99p rail at Barnardo's, Great Denham. Orange shoes also charity shopped.

All jewellery charity shopped. Necklace bought at Oxfam in Newport Pagnell last summer for 2.50.

On Monday, I volunteered at the Red Cross shop. I do so enjoy working there. I have a laugh with colleagues; we sort a mountain of stuff and sometimes I find wonderful things. My special area of responsibility is the jewellery. I found a rather 'good' piece on Monday in some stock from another Red Cross shop - a gold bracelet with purple stones. I showed it to my colleague, as I could see it looked special. He has a jeweller's eye glass and it was marked 18 carat gold. He took it to a a local jeweller who buys gold and silver; who then confirmed it was gold -  and the purple stones were real amethysts. He gave us (Red Cross)  95.00 for it!

This was Monday's outfit. The green harem pants are from Next and I bought them on my first visit to the new Barnardo's in Great Denham last year. When I got them home the elastic in the waist was gone, so I never wore them at all last year. This year I had the idea of wearing a large elasticated belt I have around the waist of the trousers to hold them up - unfortunately you can see the belt outline  under my yellow patterned M & S charity shopped top! The jacket came from the Guild House and the Mary Jane's were charity shopped in Ely last year.

All jewellery charity shopped except earrings which were donated by my daughter.

On Tuesday I went to volunteer at the Food Bank and in the evening I had Poll Clerk Training for the election on Thursday.

Jewellery and tunic charity shopped. The tunic is from Red Cross 1.99. The earrings were bought in a shop in Bath on my 50th birthday with birthday money I was given by my family.

Navy trousers, Primarni; cardigan, Studio catalogue about four years ago and shoes local retail.

I invigilated for the Open University on Wednesday all day in Luton and on Thursday I poll clerked. My day started at the polling station at 6.15 am and I finished at 10.50 pm. There was a steady stream of people coming in to vote all day and it went surprisingly quickly, but I was really tired when I got home. Luckily the polling station is only across the road from my house!

The Chrome Book is holding up although there are more distractions on the screen in the form of coloured lines but hopefully it will last until I can afford to buy a new one.

I plan to chill out all weekend to compensate for my extremely busy week. I hope you all have a great weekend; the forecast is looking good...

Some rummaging, Star Wars and a trip to the seaside

The forget-me-nots (above) were clustered in the corner of a field and are for the victims of the bomb in Manchester.

It was horrifying to wake up last Tuesday morning and hear the dreadful news about the suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester. What a truly wicked thing to do. It does nothing to improve the perceptions of Muslims here and elsewhere; as they have now become the new persecuted minority; based on the acts of individuals who carry out these horrible deeds. No one who carries out this type of act is a true Muslim.

My heart goes out to all the children, adults and their families who were killed or injured in this dreadful attack.

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Well, what a wonderful week of weather we've had!

Last Tuesday I was at the food bank and was glad of its coolness, for once, as it was quite a muggy day. When I finished there I went for a walk and walked 6.8 miles. It was my first walk for over a week and I had missed it. 

It was a beautiful afternoon. The mugginess had gone; the sun shone; the birds sang and the bees and insects hummed. I remembered to put Factor 50 sunscreen on my face in the morning before I put my make up on and I did it everyday whilst we had such lovely sunny weather. The back of my neck, upper chest, hands and feet get very brown in the summer as they are always exposed; I have to remember to apply sunscreen to these areas and to wear a hat!

Everything is charity shopped except the Mary Jane shoes bought from PJ Shoes; a local shoe retail shop; about 3 years ago. The trousers are from George at Asda and the blue top was bought from a £1.00 rail somewhere...

All jewellery charity shopped.




On Wednesday I invigilated in the morning and ran some errands in town after I had finished. But first I paid a visit to Barnardo's in Great Denham where I hadn't been for a few weeks. I bought a few things from the 99p rail - it would have been rude not to!

 What did I buy? I bought some brand new, never worn metallic gold slip on shoes; a plaid night shirt (for winter); a grey shrug/cardigan and a beautiful pale lime green, boiled/felted wool jacket (again for  winter). When I finally went into town I bought some lovely silver earrings in the Reuse shop for 2.00. I managed to walk almost 3 miles in the course of my errand running!

I spent the rest of the afternoon crocheting and sitting out in the garden enjoying the brilliant weather. I was determined to finish the blanket last week and spend the next week sewing the ends in (aaagggghhhh - such a horrible job!) and making a border for it. I'll save my next crochet project for Ireland as I'm going to be away for two months...I'm planning to make a V stitch blanket and use up my stash of blue and green wool in making it.

I made this one a few years ago and it's on our two seater sofa where it gets quite a lot of use on cold evenings...

Everything is charity shopped except the kimono which was a Christmas present from my daughter three years ago. Trousers are by Tu at Sainsbury's; linen top no label but from 1.00 rail in the Red Cross.

Because it was such a hot day I had to put my sandals on but my toenails needed painting...

All jewellery charity shopped except the earrings - 99p from e bay.

I invigilated again on Thursday morning and in the afternoon. It was another scorching day.

Top by Principles; 1.00 rail at the Red Cross. Linen M & S trousers; £1.00 rail Barnardo's in Ampthill. I bought the vintage blouse/kimono by Kanga in a charity shop in Cambridge last summer for 2.99.

Shoes; PJ shoes. Can you see how puffy my feet are? They swell in the heat and they're worse when I've been on them for hours as I was on Thursday. I also wore my large turquoise ring on Thursday but I took it off to wash my hands and couldn't get it back on again because my fingers had swollen too...

All jewellery charity shopped except watch (present) and earrings; 99p from e bay.

On Friday I ventured out after the school run for a walk. I walked 8.5 miles and sweated like a pig from beginning to end. Boy, was it hot! I also had to do the food shopping after that and the school run. One that was over I finished my latest library book 'All We Shall Know' by Donal Ryan. It's an absolutely beautiful, emotional read and I can't recommend it highly enough. Donal Ryan's writing is poetic and his use of the rhythms and phraseology of Irish speech is wonderful. It made me cry and laugh and I don't think you can ask more of a novel than that.

On Saturday OH and I went for a rummage. We decided to go to Stevenage and because they only had 5 charity shops we went to Hitchin as well. Hitchin is much smaller and has 8 charity shops! Weird.

I wore a hat to shield my face from the sun. I got my face a little burnt when I went walking on Friday despite Factor 50 sunblock. It wasn't so hot on Saturday but it was nice and breezy; so breezy in fact the hat blew away several times and I abandoned  wearing it.

Everything, including the hat, is charity shopped. I can't remember where I bought the dress; the linen jacket is from the Guild House.  I wore these Mary Jane shoes because they are very comfortable with a raised platform and ideal for walking around.

Bangles and ring charity shopped.

Beads charity shopped in Donegal, earrings bought in the week from the Reuse shop and brooch charity shopped.

Of course, I  had to buy stuff. I bought 3 pairs of earrings for a 1.00 in the Garden Hospice shop in Hitchin; another pair with a Celtic design and a deep red pair both a 1.00 each in two different Hospice shops in Stevenage. I bough a pair of Boyfriend jeans for 1.60 and an ethnic print top for 2.00  on a reduced rail in the Salvation Army in Stevenage; a pink floral pair of trousers for 4.00 in the Keech Hospice shop in Hitchin. A good day's rummaging, I thought. OH did very well, too.

We saw a Storm Trooper (from Star Wars) and R2D2: (edited thanks to Sheila!)

They were part of a fund raising event for Age UK.

On BH Monday we went to the seaside at Holkham, Norfolk with the grand kids. It was bloody freezing! We ate our picnic there.  Holkham is also a nature reserve and when we were leaving we saw 2 Spoonbills flying over head; they looked like arrows, long and thin with wings; it was a marvellous sight and it made my day.

Courtesy of Google images

We then drove to Wells Next the Sea; which is about mile and a half away -  a pretty little seaside town where we warmed up in a cafe with hot drinks; wandered about; spent ages in the arcade and finally left as the rain was coming down. Of all the days to pick to go to the seaside we chose the worst one!

Wells Next the Sea

Wells Next the Sea

I've now finished my crochet blanket and done the edging. There's only about 300 tails to sew in so it will take me some time...

My Chromebook (which I inherited from the eldest grandson) is in terminal decline. The screen has a line across it and what looks like a side view of a breast with a silouhette on the right hand side of the screen. I don't know how much longer it will last; the 'breast' is getting bigger and is blocking some of my page content. I'm hoping it will last until I go to Ireland but I may have to buy a new one soon and that will eat into my holiday money. We'll see. Hopefully, I 'll be able to post next week but if I don't you'll know the Chromebook has died!

A yellow jacket and some strange weather

Jewellery charity shopped

I had a busy week last week. I volunteered on Monday as usual and on Tuesday I was at the Guild House. They had had a pamper evening previously and raised a good amount of money; some of which was from goods from the charity shop, but what a mess was left behind...

I left  the Guild House with three items; I had sworn I wasn't going to buy anymore stuff with my holidays not far off, but I can't resist a bargain. I bought a lovely bright yellow jacket (above); a summer dressing gown which I'll take and leave at the caravan and a pair of summer trousers. That's it now; I need to tighten my purse strings...

Wednesday's outfit

All the jewellery is charity shopped except watch; Christmas present, and earrings; present from OH bought on a trip to Oxford.

Everything charity shopped except slip on shoes - Primarni. 

 I was invigilating all day on Wednesday in the large gym of the university where I used to work. Two two hour exams and you have be there 30 minutes before the exam start time to get the room ready. There's a lot walking involved in invigilating; you spend most of the time on your feet. Patrolling  the aisles to make sure there's no funny business going on; fetching more exam scripts for those who write a lot (!), escorting students to the loo. I probably clock up miles but as I have to turn my phone off I'll never know how many... It rained heavily for most of the day and by the afternoon the roof of the gym began to leak - luckily not on any students' heads!

I stayed at the campus for lunch and met a few of my ex colleagues which was nice. I invigilated again on Thursday morning and I'm doing two days next week as well.

Friday's outfit

On Friday I did the school run, went to the hairdressers, and organised a cake for OH's birthday which was also on Friday. We went out in the evening with two of my three brothers (Julian is on tour at the moment) to Corby to a Portuguese restaurant to celebrate. We had a really enjoyable evening.

Everything is charity shopped but I can't remember where...I think the kimono is from the Red Cross; the trousers are from F&F and the white top is by Next; all in their second summer of wear. The weather was wet and dull on Friday all day. Where the heck has the summer gone?

All jewellery charity shopped and the boots are daughter donated. As it got chillier toward the evening on Friday I took these thin cotton trousers off and replaced them with jeans - and socks!

On Saturday I went to see my son. Luckily the weather had improved and the drive there was great but coming back we had torrential rain and hailstones!

Everything is charity shopped; the yellow jacket is from M&S and I got it at the Guild House last Tuesday. Jeans; can't remember and the spotted top was charity shopped last summer, but again I can't remember where...

White lace slip-ons; Primarni. All jewellery charity shopped.

I forgot to say in my last post that I received an email from someone at T.M. Lewin (who are a firm of shirt makers). They had seen that I'd acknowledged wearing their shirt on one of my blog posts and wanted to know if I would add a link to their company. I declined on the grounds this is my personal blog and I'm not giving anyone free advertising! They also mentioned something about wedding dresses; oh dear, they certainly asked the wrong person!

On Monday it was back to  volunteer at the Red Cross. I was so proud of myself - I left with one headscarf priced £1.50.! What a beautiful day it turned out to be. Hot and sunny. The first truly hot sunny day I've experienced this year.

Everything charity shopped except the red shoes - PJ Shoes in Kemspton.

Kimono from New Look and jeans are from Monsoon; both 1.99 at the Red Cross last year. The jeans are a purpley blue and they match the purple flower in the kimono perfectly. The floral top underneath the kimono is from a charity shop in Donegal and cost 50 cents.

All jewellery charity shopped.

I believe the rest of this week is going to be very pleasant so I'm planning to walk every day for the next few days, as I didn't get any walking done last week. I always miss walking when I don't do it for a while.

I know it is definitely summer now because the swifts have arrived; screaming high up in the sky over the street where I live. To me that is the sound of summer.