Obsessions...

I'm on a bit of a Monica Dickens (great grand daughter of Charles Dickens) reading mission at the moment. I read 'One Pair of Hands' at school and followed it with 'One Pair of Feet'.  I read 'The Listeners' some time ago (I picked it up in a charity shop) then I got 'Mariana' as a Persephone book present  last year and then another one; 'Winds of Heaven' for Christmas this year.

This isn't my Persephone edition, of course, bur the original Penguin edition!

 I checked to see what the library had of Monica Dickens books

 and requested 2 which I've not long finished reading, I requested some more and I've just picked up 6 reservations; all from the stacks.

 I'm a bit obsessive about authors I like; I try to read their entire back list, if I can. 

Fabulous vintage cover!

I'm helped in these endeavours by my public library and thank God we still have ours. It's a wonderful resource. Today, whilst picking up my books, I saw a youngish man doing a very large jigsaw; a young woman, her friend and a small child doing a craft project, people reading the papers, using the photocopier and choosing books, DVDs and CDs. (Apparently, they do digital downloads of both books and music too - which I must check out). Upstairs in the library, people were using the computers; the reference section and the local history section. When I was doing my degree as mature student back in the 1980s; the local history section was a godsend. They also have a 'Knit and Natter' group on a Wednesday afternoon; public talks and lectures throughout the year and toddler/baby activities, too.

Let's hear it for our public libraries and let us cherish and preserve them!

I'm a bit obsessive on the whole, really. If I like something I want lots of it or to engage in it a lot - walking, charity shopping to give just two examples. Perhaps I'm just greedy?

 I like loafers so I have to have pairs in lots of different colours; I like to crochet so I have collected wool  in every colour while I'm out charity shopping.  I've stopped now because I have run out of storage for wool, but I was tempted by some purple wool yesterday. I like earrings, so I have earrings in all colours and shapes and have a collection of more than 300! I like bangles and have them in all colours...still seeking the elusive yellow ones, though!

I like books and keep buying them, even though storage space for books is almost all gone and I could never read all the books I have - even if I started tomorrow and read everyday until I die! Still, I'll never be short of something to read will I; especially if I get to the point of not being able to make it to the library. Really, I should stop getting books from my library and just read through my shelves at home. That was my plan originally but I keep reading book reviews and then I go to the library to track them down and so it goes on. And on...

At least my obsessions are harmless and I can accommodate them in my home - I've not had to resort to piling stuff in the hallway and on the stairs and in every room until it's inaccessible like some real life hoarders do!

Today's (Tuesday) weather was a bit of a shock - rain - after 6 days of sunshine!

Earrings charity shopped; ,as is the blue and green top bought last year as the summer ended, for 99p.

When I started out this morning, these green Laura Ashley trousers (charity shopped) were crisply ironed. When I went into town for a bit of a rummage - I was seeking navy blue, Capri or 7/8 trousers; I stepped on a loose pavement and ended up with a very wet foot and soaked trouser bottoms!

 The blue cuff was 20p from the Salvation Army in Rushden last week. Blue loafers bought two years ago in an on line sale. I did find the perfect pair of navy blue trousers today - hurrah!! I also bought a lovely blue striped duvet set to replace the one I've just given my eldest grandson.

After almost 8 months he's finally found a room in London near his university. As he works in a restaurant in Sloane Square as well, he frequently  travels back to Bedford late and because I live close to the station, he's been staying with me  a lot of the time. I shall miss him but he'll be back for Sunday dinners!

I did the winter to summer clothes changeover this week. What a pain in the arse it is! Anyway,  it's done  now and as is often the case in my case - the weather changes. Here's what I wore on Wednesday. I walked 6.5 miles on my own and got caught in the rain and got soaked!

I still haven't painted my toenails....

Loose trousers charity shopped, top donated to me by my daughter, sandals charity shopped.

I bought this watch in the 3:16 charity shop. I like the big numbers on it.

Earrings and necklace charity shopped. The necklace was a bit itchy so I won't be wearing it much I don't think.

This is Thursday's outfit. We walked in a village called Old Warden only 4.5 miles but what a beautiful day it was.

Loose trousers from Bedford Market - a fiver, I think, last summer.

Top, loafers, earrings and watch - all charity shopped. I think I've caught the sun on my meanderings. At least I've remembered to put the sunscreen on!

How's your week going?

Summer's caught me on the hop!

Necklace, watch (M & S, bought in 3:16 charity shop on Thursday), bangle and earrings all charity shopped.

I wore this outfit last Thursday. The beautiful weather we've had since last Wednesday has caught me on the hop and I hadn't got round to painting my toe nails! I like to have painted toenails if I'm wearing sandals in the summer. 

These sandals are about 5 years old and were bought in the Clark's sale. I also have a brown pair. The magenta skinny jeans were charity shopped last week in Rushden and the striped top also charity shopped a few months ago. Whilst I was rummaging in Rushden last Tuesday afternoon I also bought a BNWT, Next, cardigan for £4.00; and a plain white, short sleeved, Next top for £1.00. I picked up some earrings and a turquoise and silver cuff for 20p, all from the Salvation Army charity shop.

On Wednesday I went rambling and we walked from Biggleswade to the RSPB headquarters in Sandy which was 7 miles.

The Lodge - Headquarters of the RSPB in Sandy, Bedfordshire,

The topiary above is an Avocet which is the RSPB symbol. It had pride of place on the lawn!

Rhododendrons blooming in the grounds.

This beautiful Georgian house is called 'Shortmead House' and was rescued from near dereliction by the current owners and lovingly restored. It has a par terre at the front and a lovely small lake, as well.

I walked by myself last Thursday and did another 7 miles.

On Friday, I drove to Devon to see my best friend of 50 years. We had a lovely time. We went charity shopping in Taunton on Saturday and this is what I wore. The palazzo pants are from Sainsburys 50% off, top charity shopped, shoes charity shopped, watch, beads, bangles and earrings all charity shopped.

I bought some orange comfy shoes, a beautiful hand made, greeny/blue jacket for 99p, a black, orange and white top, some books and a pair of swimming trucks for middle grandson. What I was looking for was some navy blue trousers. Did I find any? No. I'm still looking.

This is my lovely friend, Hilary.

As well as charity shopping, eating out, and visiting Hilary's daughter and grandchildren we managed to fit in a bit of walking. On Saturday we walked about 4 miles and passed this telephone box cum free library in a little village called Bolham.

You take any book and leave a donation which goes to charity. You can also donate books. I think it's a great idea as most of our old telephone boxes are now gone and the new ones are just plain hideous!

On Sunday we walked by the canal and did 8.77 miles. We passed these nesting swans on the opposite bank. We also saw, later on, a swan followed by some very new cygnets.

There was a lovely little canal side cottage tea room with a tea pot theme....

How was your week?

Bank Holiday Monday walking

No, I didn't come across this lady on my London walk. I wish I had! Isn't she colourful and fun?

She's called 'Mrs. Back to Front' and she's a Punch and Judy Professor. She runs a Punch and Judy show and on the second Sunday in May in Covent Garden there is a Punch and Judy Festival. Who knew? I got this information from a fascinating blog called 'Spitalfields Life' here.

The walk on Bank Holiday  Monday was marvellous.  The Westbourne River starts at Hampstead but we didn't go that far. We started at Marble Arch, walked down Bayswater Road on to Paddington and Paddington Station; then to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park; Knightsbridge to Chelsea where the river runs through special pipes at Sloane Square tube station;  onto the Chelsea Pensioners Hospital: along the Embankment and just down the road from here is where the Westbourne river flows into the Thames via a tunnel; across the bridge to Battersea Park and back via Hyde Park to Marble Arch. 12 miles in all and my feet were throbbing by the time I got home. Pavements are far harder to walk on than fields, woods and footpaths!

This is a house in Cheyne Walk in London. I just loved the Wisteria as well  as the house. 5 storeys and a basement - that's a lot of cleaning!

We have Wisteria at the back of our house but it hasn't blossomed yet...

A lot of famous people lived in Cheyne Walk -  so there were lots of blue plaques including; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Eliot; Sir John Lavery; Algernon Swinburne, to name just a few.

This is, of course, the Albert Memorial opposite the Albert Hall opposite Kensington Gardens. 

When I was a child and lived in London, we walked from where we lived (North Paddington) to Kensington Gardens regularly (about 5 miles by my reckoning); sometimes with our dog and sometimes without. 

As well as the Round Pond and the Peter Pan statue; the London Museum was situated in Kensington Palace and free. We spent a lot of time in that museum. It  moved to London Wall  in 1976 and in 2021 it is supposed to move to Smithfield.

We saw these horse riders cross over from Hyde Park and into this mews - there must be stables down there somewhere...

I'm walking again on Wednesday and this weekend I'm off to Devon to see my best friend of 50 years. 

Hope you are all having a good week!

I went meandering...

I went walking by myself on Wednesday and did 8 miles. I didn't fancy the Rambler's walk as it was a woods walk to see the bluebells. I'd seen lots of bluebells already- but it was the thought of all that mud that put me off. Woods seem to stay very muddy long after everywhere else has dried out. I tried a different route - variety is the spice of life after all! 

The different route took me across a couple of fields and I came out close to a pig farm and anaerobic digester plant called Twinwoods - it's this place that's responsible for the horrible odour that permeates Bedford from time to time if the wind is in the 'right' direction! This is what their website has to say:

Processes 35,000 tonnes of food waste and 12,000 tonnes of pig slurry per year. Generates 1.6MW of green electricity enough to power approx 3,500 homes

Twinwoods is also the site of an old RAF airfield used in WWII.  It's where Glen Miller took off from and from where his plane disappeared. The control room is still there and part of the runway is a public footpath today. Somewhere along the way I must have walked in cow s**t because when I got home I had green splashes all over my trousers, jacket and top! Oh, the joys of walking in the countryside...

The tunic is from Save the Children about  2 weeks ago. Leggings Store 21 sale. Top, Primarni years ago; loafers charity shopped. All jewellery charity shopped.

I wore this to go walking  meandering on Thursday. I just put walking socks and boots on. I tried a completely different, new (to me) route;  it was interesting trying to work out where I was based on the map. I'm very glad I did the map reading course! At one point on the walk,  I spotted a peacock and a peahen in a sort of chicken pen. I went over to have a closer look (should peacocks be penned?) and to take a photo. A rather irate man shouted at me that I was on private land and to stay on the footpath. He was quite right - I had strayed from the footpath  by about 15 feet -  and I apologised, but what a miserable bugger he was!

I do feel bad sometimes when we're out walking and we seem to walk through somebody's garden, but public footpaths/bridleways are exactly that. Public. Often they are paths that have existed for hundreds of years, long before any buildings or even people occupied the space.

Unfortunately the beautiful blue of the peacock doesn't show in this photo but it was that beautiful shade of blue that caught my attention.

The oil seed rape is blooming!

On Friday, I went to the new charity shop. The prices were reasonable and I bought a lovely blue cotton dress for Spain, and two pairs of earrings; 1 blue and 1 green. It was very crowded and busy understandably, so I'll need to go and have a really good rummage one day next week.

This is Friday's outfit. I brought out my white jeans from winter storage but had to resort to boots as it was too cold for loafers! I was going to wear the grey speckled tunic that I bought on Tuesday, but unfortunately it was too big for me. Back in the charity shop bag it goes.

White jeans charity shopped. Tunic charity shopped. Boots; Tesco outlet store. Beads and bangles, charity shopped. Earrings are from ebay - I have another similar pair but bought these recently as I thought they were larger - they weren't! I've since relegated these jeans to the charity shop bag too; too long in the leg and cuffing them doesn't work...

The jacket is a vintage one - 1980s, I think. It's by Geiger of Austria and made of boiled wool. Originally, they made ski wear. The jacket was lovely and warm, although maybe not best paired with this tunic, but I can experiment with it for the rest of the year. It's the sort of jacket that could still be worn on summer evenings...

You can see the cute gold buttons and the embroidered details in this photo. I bought it in the British Red Cross shops a few weeks back for £1.99. I just love the colour - a rich cobalt blue.

My daughter is away for the weekend so I am having the youngest grandson to stay for part of the weekend. One of the things I plan to do with him is make a cake on Saturday - he likes making cakes and I really fancy a nice Victoria sponge. This is why I'll never be a size 10 again!

On  Bank Holiday Monday I am going walking in London on a Rambler's led walk. We are starting from Marble Arch and following the course of the Westbourne River; one of London's lost rivers. OH has plans for the garden and allotment so I'll be walking on my own but with the group. Part of the walk goes through Chelsea where my brother lives so I might be calling in for a cup of tea...

This week's finds...

I've had a good week's rummaging this week...I'm trying to focus my charity shopping to add to my summer wardrobe and buy things for our week in Spain in July. On Monday I bought brand new with tags, navy blue, cotton trousers at Save the Children where I volunteer. I also got two summer t shirts for middle grandson.

On my way home I went into the British Red Cross shop and bought a pair of leather gloves for £1.00.  These won't be for Spain of course, but for next winter. I always buy leather gloves if I see them for sale at bargain prices. They also had a lovely fur coat in for £8.99; which I tried on, but it didn't fit me! I've been after a nice fur coat for ages now, but I shall just have to keep on looking...

I wore this on Tuesday. Black skinny jeans from Lidl, loafers from local shoe shop last year. This is my only concession to Spring so far; no boots or socks, but I've still got my camisole/vest on underneath my top!

On Tuesday I went into town to check out a couple of the charity shops. Marie Curie has been closed every time I passed it over the past couple of weeks and Age UK was being refurbished. We have a new charity shop opening up on 29th April, Friday, called the 'Wood Green Animal Shelter,' so I'll make sure I visit it on my way back from the hairdressers. I didn't get anything in Marie Curie - it was open though and they've had a change around with more books than before. Age UK is refurbished but empty. I don't know if it will reopen or not. Fingers crossed it does because I like it.

Necklace charity shopped in Donegal and earrings bought last week in the Willen Hospice shop in Newport Pagnell.

So what did I get?

 I bought buff coloured cotton skinny trousers for £3.49; a red, black, white and camel coloured, short sleeved, summer top £2.99; and a white short sleeved long top; £1.99 in the Salvation Army; plus a rather fab pair of green earrings for £1.99. I bought a blue sleeveless top in Oxfam for £2.50, and a black chunky necklace for 99p. Finally, I called in at the 3:16 shop where all clothes are £1.00 at the moment. I bought a Next wrap dress in black, a grey speckled tunic and a warm black long cardigan. The dress and cardigan will be packed away for next Autumn/Winter, but I can wear the speckled top with white or black skinny jeans or over a range of leggings in the summer. I bought the middle grandson a new dressing gown here as well and a new make up bag for 50p!  I also bought a brown fedora for £2.00. My hat collection is growing! I have 6 hats and 3 berets in total,

Top, charity shopped in Donegal, and kimono Christmas present from daughter 2 years ago. Bangles charity shopped.

This top has long sleeves not short - hurrah!

This is the black necklace and green earrings I bought but I'd completely forgotten about the orange, pear shaped earrings which I bought in the Cancer Research shop for 99p!

Postscript - the navy blue cotton trousers are too small despite being my size! I couldn't get them past my knees! I'll have to return them on Monday and see what else I could have in exchange....

As I've said before I always try  to get rid of things as I bring home 'new'. Into the bag for the charity shop this week,  I put - 2 pairs of camel/buff/beige coloured cotton trousers that I bought in a La Redoute sale about 6 years ago. There's nothing wrong with them except they are not high rise and I have vowed never to wear low rise trousers again - no good for my fat belly!! I also put in two boyfriend cardigans; I grey and 1 black; 4 or 5 vests; I pair of trackie bottoms (sweat pants) I haven't worn for over a year;  and a couple of tops I no longer liked. By doing this every time (almost every time!) I just about manage to store all my clothes. If I didn't give stuff away and held on to everything, I'd have to climb over piles of clothing as I come in through the front door!

 I'm very pleased with all my bargains but that's it for the week now.  I'll just visit the new one on Friday and I won't go rummaging after walking on Wednesday but come straight home - so I'm not tempted...

Here's a closer look at the earrings on. I tried for 10 minutes to do a selfie of the earrings but I just couldn't - I don't know how Goody manages....

Yellow, navy and a long walk...

I wore this outfit on Friday after I finished my bus walk. We caught the bus from Bedford to the village of Milton Ernest and walked back, which is 7 miles. We ended up  in Bedford Park and had tea and cake in the cafe. The best way to finish any walk, I think!

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It was such a cheerless, grey cloudy day, I wanted to wear something bright - and yellow always obliges.

Grey trousers from Primarni 2 years ago; top charity shopped; cardigan Christmas present from OH, yellow loafers from Tesco outlet store about 4 years ago. Necklace charity shopped and earrings from e bay, 99p.

Beads bought recently at Cancer Research and orange earrings from Sainsburys

On Saturday both OH and I went walking in London for the 'Unlock London' walk.  It was the 33rd walk and was called 'Around the Orbit'.  The Orbit is the horrible twisty construction in the Olympic Park and to give it is full name the Arcelormittal  Orbit. We did the 'Unlock London' walk last year, too, where we started in Southwark and walked to Bermondsey and then Deptford. 

This time we started at Hackney Wick and walked via 9 churches through the streets, by the River Lea through the Olympic Park in Stratford and back to Hackney Wick again.  I liked the Aqua Centre in the Oympic Park and it's lovely to have such a nice open space filled with different sport venues (velodrome, hockey and tennis centre and a stadium, to name just some) but much of the modern architecture leaves me cold. All in all we walked about 10 miles.

Yes, I'm wearing trainers! The only pair I've ever bought (Marie Curie £2.00). Very good for pounding the London streets!

Jeans bought from Lidl some weeks ago and top from Store 21 £5.00 in the sale. Orange bangle from Oxfam, £1.00.

This was a stained glass window from one of the churches.

This was the last of the 9 churches we visited.

One of the many narrow boats on the River Lea.

On Sunday I went to visit my son. It started out as s sunny day but got colder and cloudier as the day went on. I needed this warm red jacket from Fenn Wright Mason bought at the RSPCA shop in Newport Pagnell on Tuesday.

Warm and cozy.

Trousers, top and spotted shirt all charity shopped.

Shoes and pearl necklace charity shopped. Earrings bought from Debenhams about 3 years ago.

I hope everyone has a great week. I'm just doing the usual this week - charity shop volunteering and school run on Monday, Food bank volunteering on Tuesday and may have a rummage in the afternoon - possibly in Rushden. On Wednesday I will be walking with the Ramblers and on Thursday as well. On Friday I'll go walking by myself and do the school run.

xxxxxx