Tuesday 15 October 2019

Walking, swimming and rummaging


Last Wednesday I walked by myself and not with my group. I did a walk that combined elements of several walks that I've previously led. It was a beautiful sunny but cool day and the walk was 10.8 miles. I did enjoy it. I saw a Buzzard; a Kestrel being mobbed by two crows and several Red Kites.  I also startled a pheasant, but that's nothing new; I do it almost every time I'm out for a walk. They are daft birds; if they'd just stay put I'd never know they were there; and they wouldn't have to erupt out of the undergrowth in a riot of squawks and feathers!
All jewellery charity shopped.



Navy lace trousers; my Barnardo's 2.00. Top by Primarni 1.00 rail somewhere; and jacket 4.00 in the 3:16 charity shop. Red brothel creepers/beetle crushers 5.00 from a Wellingborough charity shop.


I have put my summer sandals and shoes away and brought out the boots and winter shoes. I've packed away the lightest of my summer clothes but I haven't completely swapped over yet...

Thursday was the day Marian and I planned to visit Hatfield House in Hertfordshire and enjoy a day out together. It was not to be. Marian doesn't live very far away from Hatfield House and she arrived there first. She rang to say that they were filming and it wasn't open to the public! I went to her house in London instead and we did some catching up. We can do Hatfield House another time and as Knebworth is also only down the road, we can do that one, too!

I wore this:

Jacket from Oxfam in Kilburn a couple of years ago: 2.00. White lace top by Next; 1.00 rail. All jewellery charity shopped.


Green trousers by Zara and picked up in the Salvation Army in Peterborough last Tuesday for 4.50. Green boots (never worn) by River Island bought for 4.00 in my Barnardos.

And this is the Seasalt raincoat bought for 5.00 in my Barnardos.

I went swimming again on Friday and managed 24 laps of the pool.  Fridays seem to be by far the quietest day to swim. At one point there was only me and one other in the middle lane!

On Saturday, I walked with a different walking group in the village of Bolnhurst where we walked 7 miles in cloudy and cool weather.


Green boots as before. Trousers by F&F; charity shopped but can't remember where. The linen top is by Monsoon and I bought it in a charity shop in Letterkenny for 2.50 in their sale. I can't remember where the very useful dark blue cardigan came from; but it was another charity shop buy.

More smudes around the eyes; I need to look in the mirror before I do these photos!

All jewellery and scarf charity shopped.




Ed, Marian and Katherine.

My cousins came to dinner on Sunday. We had a lovely day and I drank quite a lot of wine (for me) hence the red face - and we lit the fire for the first time so that must be partly to blame! I wore some silky harem pants I bought in my Barnardo's for 2.00 sometime ago; with my current favourite white blouse and a black and white kimono bought somewhere in Ireland about three years ago. All jewellery charity shopped.

On Monday, I was at Barnardo's and we had so many donations we were climbing over them to get to the back. When I left, despite sorting and tagging all morning, there were still dozens of bags left to sort...
I wore this dress by Seasalt that I picked up the week before.

Sorry crap photos alert:
I don't know what happened to the camera here; it might be because the light is behind me or maybe the flash didn't work but the colour has leached out. Sometimes I really miss OH as my photographer!

Tights, headscarf and all jewellery charity shopped.


Shoes: Primarni sale two years ago.


I bought this denim jacket by 'And Other Stories' for 5.00 in the 3:16 charity shop earlier in the summer.

It was good to get back to the Food Bank on Tuesday; I'd missed two weeks. We have the Harvest donations coming in thick and fast now. It's very comforting to know that as our stock diminishes there's always something; Harvest, Christmas, Easter, Special Appeals that enable us to build up stocks again.

I spent Tuesday afternoon doing the big swapover. I filled one plastic bag with stuff for the charity shop and 5 filled with my summer clothes went into the loft! All in all it took me about two and half hours to do the swapover...thank goodness that's out of the way until next year!

The weather has cooled down considerably and it's cold in the mornings; and the evenings are very chilly. We've lit the fire every evening; in fact we did it last Sunday when Marian and her family came down. It's very cosy and it means I don't have to put the heating on!


On Wednesday, the walk was quite far away so I walked on my own after a trip to town to run some errands. I recce'd the walk I'll be leading at the end of the month which is a 7 mile walk from Milton Ernest to Thurleigh and back. It was meant to be sunny in the afternoon but it was very cloudy and I kept my waterproof jacket on all the time as it was chilly!


This dress is a Joe Brown dress bought for 5.00 in Derry. The jacket was bought last year and is very warm, so was needed.  I can't remember where I got it from or how much it was. Can't remember where I got the boots either!


Necklace bought in Ireland in a charity shop; earrings were a present and the fish brooch was bought in the new Hospice Shop. Bangles and ring also charity shopped. I noticed in town on Wednesday that the relatively recently opened 'Autism Bedford' has closed. It lasted less than a year. I did have a bit of a rummage and bought two tops for 2.00 each and a necklace in Mercy in Action and  in Cancer Research I picked up a Masai animal print top for 4.50.


On Thursday, I went walking by myself again and recce'd a new walk for the Spring programme. I managed to get it down to 8 miles and when I walk it more often I maybe able to shave off a bit more. As I only wore my Scottie dog dress for a few hours on Wednesday; I wore it again with a different jacket and jewellery on Thursday. I should have also gone to my doctor's on Thursday for a full medical MOT - my first ever. OH has had several. My doctor's practice is a bit slow with new initiatives but as I've been with them for 38 years I'm ok with that. Unfortunately, they called me and cancelled my appointment so I have to rebook...damn!


Just before I set off for a swim on Friday - note no mascara. It's easier to wipe off the rest of my makeup when I get to the swimming pool.  All jewellery charity shopped and top bought at my Barnardo's on Monday.

I swam 30 lengths - 1.5 k. I am really enjoying getting back into swimming. When I was younger and still at school; Hilary and I swam every weekday before school and sometime at the weekends too!


My Frida Kahlo bag - bought as a present for me by my lovely (ex) daughter-in-law. I use it when I go for a rummage or I'm running errands in town.


Saturday was a chill out day. I slept late having spent 4 hours the evening before, yes I really mean 4 hours, unravelling and rewinding a ball of wool that had got hopelessly knotted and tangled! I still had to cut a bit out that I couldn't untangle but only a little. I needed the colour for the Hydrangea blanket otherwise I would have given up on it sooner. Hilary is coming down in November for a weekend so I need to have the blanket finished by then...Saturday evening saw the return of 'Spiral'; a French police series on BBC4. This series is one of my all time favourites. Did anyone notice there was no 'Tin Tin' in the first of the new programmes?

I'm wearing the (spotted) tunic by Myrine bought in the Mercy in Action for 2.00; over brown M&S retail leggings and charity shopped boots. This jacket by Viyella was 1 euro from the Donegal Animal charity shop.

All jewellery and scarf charity shopped. I went into to town on Saturday afternoon to return a library reservation and stopped at the Guildhouse charity shop. It only opens on Saturdays and I rarely go to town on a Saturday but I'm so glad I did. I picked up these lovely clogs for 3.00 - they are incredibly comfortable and had not been worn:


On Sunday I went to see my son. It was a bit of a chilly day so I dug out this coat. It's by Primarni  charity shopped somewhere; and I've had it for more than a year but have never worn it!


This is the Masai top bought in the Cancer Research for 4.50 in the week.


M&S animal print leggings; 2.00 my Barnardo's and brown boots charity shopped somewhere.



All jewellery charity shopped.


Monday saw me back at Barnardo's for more volunteering. I bought some great fashion books:


Someone must have been studying fashion as there were quite a few books; but it was these I was particularly interested in; especially the biography of Coco Chanel.


Jacket present from daughter. Tunic, trousers, scarf and all jewellery charity shopped.


Grey ankle boots online retail last year.


I wore this to the food bank on Tuesday.  Practical and warm clothing for the warehouse. We have an amazing new pair of scales where we can just wheel on, weigh and wheel off! Of course we have to deduct the weight of the trolley or wheeled base and the weight of the crates from the total. Sometimes it's quicker to use the lift on lift off scales...Everything charity shopped except the boots - as above. Can't remember where I got the clothes from.



All jewellery charity shopped.


After the foodbank I decided to go to Ampthill for a rummage as I hadn't been for a while. In Barnardo's I spied a couple of fashion books that had just come in as a donation. I have only one or two fashion/style books; then on Monday I picked up 4 at my Barnardo's and then 2 more in Ampthill. One book is about Erte fashions and the other is a visual style source directory  of fabrics, wallpapers, paints, flooring and tiles by Judith Miller. Both were 1.00 each. I was well chuffed.

Got a busy week ahead; hospital appointment with grandchild, hairdressers, eyebrows, swimming and two group walks - see you on the other side!

16 comments:

  1. Great deal on the books! I have a stack of fashion books that I'm excited to start reading.

    Wonderful outfits as always, Vronni! And only 2.5 hours to do your swap? I'm envious!

    Favourite things: the Seasalt raincoat (looks fab on you), the pic of you in the double-twist head scarf and the cube necklace is amazing, the dotted tunic.

    Swimming is not my favourite thing, but that's so great that you've found it again.

    Wishing you a great week, my dear!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sheila!

      It may have taken slightly longer to do the swapover as I didn't include the time I spent hanging up the winter replacement clothes and that probably rook another hour!

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  2. I'm very impressed with your walking and swimming! We've got 10 tonnes of gravel being delivered in the morning which Jon & I have to lay, that'll keep me fit!
    Love the Seasalt mac, the And Other Stories denim jacket and the whole of the last outfit - stunning colours. The books were a fab find.
    Your Frida bag is gorgeous.
    Haven't caught up with Spiral yet as we had to be in bed in Saturday night at 9 to be up and out for 5am. Wasn't Tin Tin haven't marriage difficulties? Hopefully he's off sorting them out. Loving The Dublin Murders!
    A friend gave me a pair of those Bjorn clogs in the same colour but they were so painful I sold them on.
    Have a fab week and stay dry! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope you've caught and enjoyed Spiral; it's on again tonight....I'm loving the Dublin Murders, too but I have read the book and know what happens - my lips are sealed.

      I've found the clogs comfortable so far but haven't really tested them properly.

      Have a great week
      xxx

      Delete
  3. As usual, I'm loving your round up of colourful outfits, and I also love reading your account of what you've been up to. I'm not much of a swimmer but I love walking: I only wish I had more time for it. The sun was shining this morning, and I was looking forward to a good long walk during my lunch break, but alas it is raining again now :-( That Seasalt mac is totally fabulous, and so is that Scottie dog dress. Loving all the fashion books as well. I'm always looking out for these in the charity shops. I think I have that Judith Miller book you're mentioning. xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I've now got a small fashion section on my book shelves which I'm very happy about. I'm currently reading the book about Coco Chanel.

      Hope your weather brightens up!
      xxx

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  4. Your exercise regime never fails to impress me. I wish I enjoyed swimming, it's such a great workout for the full body.

    Those clogs were a great score! I have some but I find them hard on my feet.

    My favourite outfit this week is the last one.

    Suzanne
    http://www.suzannecarillo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Suzanne.

      I haven't really tested the clogs out yet!
      xxx

      Delete
  5. love the head to toe animal print look and the pattern mixing of the last outfit most!
    you are such a busy gal - and very sporty! i guess, if we ever go walking together, you have to tote me out of the woods ;-D
    happy week for you! xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Beate!

      I'm sure you can hold your own in the hiking stakes. I don't like walks where the aim is to walk as fast as you can; for me it's all about enjoying the environment around you and the company!
      xxx

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  6. I am very envious of your great Seasalt bargains. I love their stuff but it's too pricey for me and I have never seen it in our local charity shops.
    You look great in all these photos- very slim and glamorous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, JayCee.

      Yes, it's a first for me seeing both a coat and a dress in our charity shop. I bet they came from the same person!
      xxx

      Delete
  7. I still haven't forgiven pheasants (all of them) for eating every last grape off my vines in the course of a weekend we were away. Go ahead and startle them-they're probably up to no good!

    Your dog dress is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.
    The clogs are beautiful-they should get loads of wear as they go with everything.
    I'm impressed with all your swimming and walking. I'm really struggling to run with my arthritis flaring, but after some time off am finding it hard to get back to where I was.
    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I shall continue to startle pheasants on your behalf, Goody!

      I'm sorry to hear you're finding it difficult to get back to your exercise regime. Bit by bit and you'll get there...

      Hope you have a great week, too!
      xxx

      Delete
  8. Ooh, I wonder what they were filming at Hatfield! You'll have to do some nosing around when you do get to go.

    It's good to hear the swimming is still going well.

    That's both you and Vix have mentioned Spiral now. I'm going to have to find it on Catchup and see what all the fuss is about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it's intriguing isn't it. I hope it's got something to do with Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy which is due for publication in January 2020, I think. They've filmed the first book.

      Spiral is just brilliant. I find I really care about the characters and the storyline is very good too. I also like to try and understand what they are saying in French!
      xxxx

      Delete

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