Good Fences Make Good Neighbours...

Hello and welcome! 

Summer returned on the Wednesday after my last post. It was mostly sunny and warm at 20 degrees. What a pleasure to see the sun again. I started the day as always with an hour's walk with Rain. I had errands to run later that morning; the birds had eaten all the fat balls and we'd run out of cheese...

My outfit of the day was all pre-loved. I'd had the trousers for a couple of years; from Barnardo's originally, I think; the striped top was by First Avenue and the short sleeved jumper by H&M. I'm not sure where I bought the black pumps from but it was definitely a charity shop. All jewellery pre-loved.

Thursday was a complete contrast to Wednesday; it was cool and cloudy with several down pours during the day. OH took Rain out for her second walk of the day and got drenched. I started the day with a dog walk along the river to Queen's Park and then went for a swim, swimming 44 laps. I did the Lidl and Sainsbury's food shop and unpacked it all. I made dinner for both grandsons and us and then took youngest grandson to basketball training. We'd started watching a Swedish TV series called 'Deliver Me' on Netflix earlier in the week and finished it on Thursday evening. Quite a harrowing story line but the acting was superb.

By Netflix - https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81594392, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76691977

Back to layering for warmth! I had a thermal vest on underneath this pre-loved Masai shirt. Pre-loved Next jeans and the animal print baseball boots were a late summer pre-loved find last year.

All jewellery pre-loved. This necklace was made of wicker beads.

I met the neighbour's wife whose wall had collapsed and she said they were waiting on a bricklayer to come round and give them a quote. They weren't happy with the bamboo fencing and had run out anyway...

Friday was grey and chilly. Still too cool for sandals; I had 3 pairs of new sandals waiting to be worn; I pair pre-loved and the other 2 bought in sales on line. The long term forecast said we'd have a wet summer...nooooooo!

Jeans and pumps as before. Lace jacket; pre-loved from River Island and pre-loved top by Laura Ashley.

All jewellery pre-loved.

I had the heating on for a couple of hours during the day on Friday as it was chilly. Saturday was very similar and we even lit the fire in the evening; there was a cold wind all day. I took Rain for an early morning walk as per usual; then OH and I went to the first car boot sale of the year for us; held at the Garden Centre in Milton Ernest. It's a very small boot sale and quite close. I found a skirt, a top and a couple of books. I found 2 Garfield soft toys for Rain to play with too, but when I'd got them home realised they were filled with plastic or polystyrene micro beads. They joined the items in the donations bag.

I bought this skirt at the car boot and put it on when I got home. It's a vintage knitted M&S skirt with the old St Michael label but also the M&S label, which according to my research dates it to the 1990s. I remember these skirts with the side slit from back then. Top from the 1.00 sale rail at 3:16 shop last week and pumps as before. Pre-loved denim jacket by Sussst.

All jewellery pre-loved.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful summer's day. I'd heard the swifts screaming up high in the skies a few time over the past fortnight and and that's always an indication to me that summer is on its way. I do hope it is. The temperature on Sunday reached 21 degrees and was beautifully warm. Rain and I had an early walk and I was in the pool by 8.15; where I swam 42 laps. Once home I popped to Lidl for some forgotten items for dinner; did a wash and hung it out; prepped some veg for OH as he was making chicken curry and a vegetable curry for my daughter and I. By then it was time to walk the dog again and we had a long leisurely and very warm walk. We met some cows in a field and Rain was very scared of them - I must admit I was pretty nervous, too. We both beat a very sharp exit from that field I can tell you; especially as the cows were coming closer and closer to investigate us...

When I arrived home the neighbour had continued to erect more bamboo fencing but had stopped before the final bit - argghh! Just another 4 -5 foot should do it...hopefully next Saturday it will be completed.

I got to wear sandals on Sunday! These were a retail buy from the Monsoon sale last summer. When I walk the dog I wear what you see me wearing in the photos -  but I wear an old pair of pink trainers donated by my daughter. They're very well cushioned at the heel and as such won't trigger the plantar fascitis again (fingers crossed). However, I always end up with wet feet from walking across the grass with the dog as the trainers are fabric ones.

Everything pre-loved and seen on the blog before; Skirt by Per Una;  tank top by H&M. I didn't actually need the tank top as the weather was so warm.

Back to Barnardo's on Monday and as I walked in, the shop floor was piled high with donations. They kept on coming all through the morning. As fast as I processed a bag of donations in came 2 or 3 more; it was very frustrating.

Everything pre-loved. Skirt by Betty Barclay; top by Dorothy Perkins via my Barnardo's; sandals; retail buy from local shoe shop last summer. Jacket as before. Belt donated by my daughter many years ago.

All jewellery pre-loved except the earrings which were a sale buy from Peacocks.. A male customer admired my spoon necklace.

Once I was home OH and I did the weekly house clean and while I took Rain out for her second walk OH made dinner. I spent the rest of the evening reading and catching up with blogs and blogging. 

It was a busy morning at the food bank. I made up kettle packs to bring the stock levels up to 25 and also made up a kettle pack for a family of 4 who were staying temporarily in a Travel Lodge with not even a microwave to heat food up in. I unpacked about dozen crates of toiletries and household cleaning items and put them away. By the time that was finished it was time for my hairdresser's appointment. I love having my haircut but it won't last for long this week as I'll be swimming on Thursday morning. Maybe it's time I invested in a swimming cap?

Tuesday's outfit. Everything pre-loved. Trousers by Papaya; top by Free People; jacket by F&F. Pumps as before and all jewellery pre-loved.

It's that dog again!

Son is short of storage space in his new place and is keeping some of his stuff (e.g. trainers etc) in his old bedroom; AKA the spare room where the light is better for my outfit photos.

My hairdressers said I looked 'elegant' when I arrived; what a nice compliment; especially as I had been hunking crates of food and toiletries about all morning. It rained in the afternoon but wasn't cold.

I had to take my car to have a service and MOT on Wednesday morning in the nearby village of Bromham. I took Rain out for walk first. I waited for the car sitting in the reception area; reading my book and having a coffee. The car passed its MOT and was returned to me all clean and shiny. Did I tell you I scratched the car paint work a week or two back? OH had parked the car under a tree. In the morning it was plastered in bird poo. I hoped he would offer to clean it off but he didn't - (I would have if it had been his car but there you go) so a day later I set out in a fit of pique with my bucket of soapy water and some scouring pads. How stupid of me; it didn't occur to me the pads would scratch the paintwork, but they did. Both on the driver's side door and the rear passenger door. I asked the advice of the Toyota garage on Wednesday and they're going to give me a quote.

I picked this top up on the 1.00 rail in my Barnardo's on Monday - my only purchase! Jeans; retail last year from Sainsbury's and pumps purchased this year. Jacket from M&S via my Barnardo's. It's still a little bit nippy in the morning when I take the dog out between 6.30 and 7.30 am.

All jewellery pre-loved.

Wednesday seems to have turned into errands running day. I am no longer wanting to walk with my (large) walking group on a Wednesday as I walk so much with Rain. I'm averaging in excess of 20,000 steps per day. OH takes Rain for an afternoon walk on Thursday (my busiest day) and sometimes one other day, but I do the rest of the twice daily walks. I do, however, want to return to walking with the Friday (small) unofficial bus walk walking group and hoped to do so this Friday.

For my errands I went to Aldi to pick up some things we needed from there and then I walked into town to the International Supermarket for some Masala Chai teabags for me and some 'hard' food (yam, plantain and green banana) for my son. I then walked Rain down to Queen's Park along the river. There's a large green area there where I can let her off the lead for a good old run around which seems to tire her out - and me!


Thursday was so busy I didn't even find time to take an outfit photo and on Friday I finally made the walk - this time an official bus walk starting at Bedford bus station (it was the same small group that turned up). We caught the bus to Roxton, then walked to the village of Tempsford where we crossed over a level crossing and walked to the town of Sandy. We had 30 minutes to wait here so after a quick coffee sitting on a bench in the sunshine we caught the return bus to Bedford. It was lovely to meet up with everyone; I had been missed I was informed and the weather was great. Who could ask for more? On part of the walk we stopped at 'Gibraltar Farm' which houses the RAF Tempsford Memorial barn. This barn was set amid the remains of a secret WWII airfield and preserved as a memorial to allied agents who were parachuted into Europe. You can read more about it HERE.

These recesses were bunks the agents slept on whilst waiting to be parachuted out.

Russian agents.

Violette Szabo and her husband. (French agents).

Polish agents.

We saw ponies, llamas, alpacas and peacocks at a farm shop we passed. My photo of the ponies didn't come out very well. This is llama and an alpaca.

Lovely timber framed house.



This thatched cottage had a thatcher's signature of dog, cat and mouse!





Saturday's outfit. Another pleasant day; cloudy in the morning but sunny in the afternoon. Skirt by M&S, top by Rebecca Graaf) it's the palest of lavender; jacket as before and pumps as before. All pre-loved except the pumps.





I wore purple jewellery (all pre-loved) to compliment the pale lavender striped top.



We decided on Saturday afternoon to visit Emmaeus in the village of Carlton and drop off a bag of donations whilst we were there. It'd been a while since we'd visited and it's a place that's always worth a look. I found some books;  a new soft toy for Rain; a pair of white trousers and a green pendant to add to my collection of pendants. We then ran some errands before returning home; dry dog food from Jollye's and to Dunelm for new mop heads. What an exciting life...NOT.

I selected a new TBR pile on Sunday; there are 3 non-fiction books this time including Miss Wilmott's Ghosts (about a Victorian woman gardener) picked up at Emmaeus; of which I'm sure I only recently read a review...

On the bamboo fence front there was no further activity over the weekend so the gap remains - arrgghh, I wish he'd finish the bloody thing off!  Our privacy has still not been quite restored but I live in hope.
In the evening we finished watching the 3rd series of 'Outlaws' on BBC i player.

When I took Rain for her early morning walk on Monday it was raining and it rained for the duration of the walk. The weather brightened up during the day with some sunny spells but there were also more showers. It was cool so I needed this pre-loved Wallis cardigan over the M&S white trousers found at Emmaeus on Saturday. Pre-loved animal top by F&F and pre-loved animal print baseball boots. All jewellery pre-loved except the earrings which were donated by my daughter many years ago.

 

I volunteered at the Kempston Barnardo's on Monday and spent absolutely ages unpacking and checking off artificial flowers;  one of a range of Barnardo's non donated goods. They are very popular with customers and very life like. I then had to find somewhere to put the contents of all of the 10 boxes but I managed to find space for them all. I should be back at Great Denham next week, I do hope so. The deputy manager was back after a gap of 9 months (she needed knee surgery) and was doing a phased return to work over a 4 week period. It was good to see her and hopefully once she's back up to her usual hours; Great Denham will be better covered with paid staff members and won't have to close so often.

Mondays are house cleaning days so I did that when I got home from the charity shop, took the dog for another walk and spent the rest of the evening blogging and catching up with blogs. I also started book 3 in the Mark Billingham series...

Back to the food bank on Tuesday. Between us Tracy and I made up kettle packs and put the toiletries away. The food bank is about to embark on a stock take and I'd never seen it so empty looking in the working areas. Everything packed away and ready to be counted, I assumed. I hate it when it's stock taking at the charity shop; so much counting and nothing ever seems to reconcile...just glad I don't have to do it at the food bank!

Everything pre-loved and seen on the blog before except the trainers; Tu retail. Linen top by Wallis; suedette jacket by F&F. M&S sleeveless jumper worn underneath the top. It was a cool day and I wore a coat when I took the dog out for her walks.

In the afternoon I went to get my eyebrows done and ran a few errands in town. Looking at my bank transactions in the evening; I noticed the payment transaction for my eyebrows at the salon had been put through twice. That'll mean another trip to town tomorrow to go back to the salon and get them to refund me...

All jewellery pre-loved.

June is a busy birthday month in our family. In the next fortnight I have my youngest grandson's 14th birthday meal to attend and I'm making him a birthday cake on the day. OH's twin sisters have their birthday on the same day as my grandson. I'm also off to an exhibition at the Tate in London with cousin Marian; it's my treat for her birthday. I'll tell you all about it in my next post and let's hope summer will have returned by then!