It's good to be home...

Hello again!

 All my Mother's Day flowers opened just in time for me to leave them behind...

Wednesday 29th March was yet again dull, miserable and wet. Not conducive to walking; so after getting ready and having a leisurely breakfast I set off to run errands. First, I went to M&S at the retail park to pick up my new knickers. I then went to Aldi and did the food shopping. I wouldn't be going to Lidl on Thursday as there was no point; we'd be away for two weeks in Ireland. I then went to B&M and Home Bargains to pick up various items we needed; some to take with us. The cost of living in Ireland is higher than it is in the UK and my family warned me to buy as much as I could in the UK where it's cheaper.

It occurred to me that other than jeans, I hadn't been wearing much in the way of trousers lately. I find I tend to go through phases; wearing mostly skirts; or mostly dresses; or mostly trousers. I opted to wear these warm, pre-loved trousers by New Look; worn over a Falmers shirt and a F&F top; both pre-loved and pre-loved boots; as was all the jewellery.

I popped into Barnardo's on my way back from M&S for a rummage as I wasn't there on Monday to have one. I bought a yellow White Stuff knee length dress and also stopped at the Cat's Protection League where I bought an ombre Warehouse maxi skirt. That was put away with the summer stuff but the yellow dress came with me to Ireland.   

I made dinner for OH on my return and we began watching a new BBC TV series; 'Blue Lights' which began on Monday night; set in Belfast and the story of three probationers in the Northern Ireland Police Service. Very good it was too. We'll carry on with 'The Blood Pact' series 2 when we get back from Ireland.

'Blue Lights' SOURCE

Woke up to sunshine on Thursday which was most welcome. After the usual 45 lap swim I walked home with the sun on my back. Later on in the afternoon when I collected youngest grandson from school; the temperature was 18 degrees! I went to the hairdressers and had time to walk into town and get my eyebrows done as well as have a quick look in the 3:16 charity shop.

I continued with the trousers theme for Thursday's outfit. Trousers pre-loved from Tu; top by F&F;  sleeveless yellow top by M&S; both pre-loved. Boots as before; all jewellery charity shopped.

Pre and post hairdressers...

Oh, my goodness what a horrible day Friday was. It rained more or less non stop. I had planned to walk in Cambridge with the unofficial bus walk group but the weather put me off. I did useful stuff instead like packing what I was taking to Ireland. I walked into town to the library to return a library book and walked along the river to the Castle Rd charity shops where I had a browse and bought more books. My TBR pile keeps growing taller:

Since I last showed you my TBR pile I added another John le Carre..

 I shall be reading from the bottom up when I get back from Ireland. 'The Clockmaker's Daughter' was for cousin Marian'. I have books galore in the mobile home, plus I take my Kindle with me so I'm never short of reading material. Interestingly, when we're away on holiday is the only time OH reads books. I know this is common to lots of people but I can't imagine a life where I didn't read regularly.

Everything pre-loved and worn before on the blog including all the jewellery...(except the boots; present from daughter).

We finished watching the final episode of 'Blue Lights' on Friday evening; what a brilliant series. I hope there's a series 2 to follow.

We set off for Birkenhead on Saturday morning arriving just before 3 pm. Once we'd dropped our stuff into the hotel room we set off to explore Birkenhead. We found a few charity shops in the nearby shopping centre. I bought a quilted jacket from Australia which was 4.00 and a long length pinafore dress from a 1.00 rail. We saw some interesting buildings in Birkenhead:

Originally a school.

Victorian gothic!

On the ferry to Belfast I spotted this woman wearing a wonderful Frida Kahlo print dress.

We had a great time in Ireland. There were a couple of days where it was warm(ish) and there was sunshine; quite a few where it rained all day and one day when we woke up to frost covered grass outside the caravan! We visited relatives; visited Co. Derry and walked the city walls.  It's good to have a change of routine and for OH it's a break from a pretty demanding job; we spent afternoons and evenings reading and I listened to quite a few Irish pod casts. There was no TV for us at all as our TV man who tunes the TV in for us had disappeared. His shop in the village was closed and he didn't answer his phone; very mysterious. We stayed over night with my cousin Liam and his wife , Martina in Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo. I didn't manage a sea swim at all but we went to Coral beach (our local beach) and walked to the lighthouse:

We went to Portnoo/Narin strand:

We walked to the end of the beach where there is a golf course up on the cliffs. Usually there are golfers around but on this day there weren't so we walked along side the golf course until we couldn't go any further; where OH is standing on the rocks above. The golf course is at the very end of the piece of land (below) jutting out into the Atlantic ocean - next stop America!

On our way back we found this poor little porpoise/dolphin skeleton on the beach:

After years of beach walks and beach combing; I keep a display of  finds on the mobile home mantelpiece. I'm usually on the look out for sea glass but it's hard to find...the fish and paper weights were charity shop finds not bounty from the sea!

We visited Sligo town where they have some lovely old shop fronts.

We went for a cliff walk at Bundoran, Co. Donegal where we tried to spot some sea birds but having left the binoculars in the mobile home and both of us needing glasses we didn't identify many!

 

We stayed overnight in Belfast and had time for a wander and a bit of a rummage around the city centre.

Some things that caught my eye in Belfast.

All in all I did very well on my Irish rummages buying a jacket; a coat; 2 dresses; 2 tank tops; a felt skirt; a bag; quite a few books and some jewellery. I also managed to read 7 books whilst we were in Ireland and OH managed 2.5!

After the eight hour ferry crossing we were very pleased to see Liverpool and some sun!

Unfortunately, whilst we were away my Aunty Joan (my dad's sister) who lived in Burton-on Trent, and who you may remember came to visit us last October with my cousin Andrew, passed away. She had terminal cancer so we knew she wouldn't be around for much longer and luckily it was a quick, painless and peaceful end. RIP Aunty Joan. In less than a month 3 of my aunts have died; one in her 90s; one in 80s and one in her 70s.

The rest of the weekend was spent unpacking; washing; doing the housework; food shopping and cooking Sunday dinner. We were very pleased to have brought back two sacks of turf to burn in the stove. Cousin Liam still cuts his own turf and donated some to us. Although the weather in the UK seemed to have warmed up since we left, the evenings are still a bit chilly. 

Pinafore dress bought in Scope, Birkenhead. Top underneath by M&S; pre-loved leggings; retail and boots from Emmaus. All jewellery pre-loved.

I can push these pointy bits in where they magically turn into pockets...

I wore this to Barnardo's on Monday where it was very busy all morning. There were mountains of donations to go through and only me and the manager there...

The garden had sprung into life. We had blooming tulips; wall flowers; pansies and geraniums. The euphorbia is showing small yellow buds and there are green shoots everywhere including in the pot where I planted the fritillary bulbs. I'm crossing my fingers...I bought some new fuchsias when I was shopping in Lidl on Sunday and OH planted them up.

Back to the food bank on Tuesday. We were fully staffed with volunteers and I made up crates of toiletries and cleaning products for 3 of our distribution centres; made up kettle packs and put donated toiletries and cleaning products away. The sun came out mid morning which was very welcome indeed. I stopped at Aldi on the way home to do the weekly Aldi shop and spent the rest of the afternoon preparing and cooking dinner early as I had poll clerk online training at 5 pm. We have local elections on 4th May and I'm acting as a poll clerk which is paid and not voluntary. The venue is just across the road from where I live so OH will make me dinner and deliver it on the day! 

This was Tuesday's OOTD.

This new to me dress was bought in the 3:16 charity shop before we left for Ireland. It's a little snug across the chest and actually looked better without the belt; I also think I wore the wrong type of top underneath and should have worn a camisole top - but as I've said many times before it's cold in the warehouse! Boots as before and all jewellery pre-loved.

I've an action packed week ahead; walking on Wednesday with the large walking group; swimming and shopping etc on Thursday; the unofficial bus walk on Friday; on Saturday it's the 40th annual 'Unlock Walk' of London's churches; this time in Thamesmead (more on that in my next post) and on Sunday I'll be swimming and cooking Sunday dinner for the whole family.

See you in a fortnight...