Volunteering

I seem to have lost my feet in this photo!

One of the best things about being retired from paid employment is being able to volunteer and give something back to my local community where I've lived now for almost 35 years. When I first retired I spent 4 months at CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) on their pilot scheme for telephone advice. The pilot was not successful so it was dropped, and as I didn't want to do the face to face thing I looked for something else to do. I did do some paid work for  about 12 months on and off; Home Carer, postal votes opening, poll clerk on election day and invigilation at the university I used to work for.

About 6 weeks ago I started at our local food bank run by the Trussell Trust. I volunteer in the warehouse where I've marked up the donations by use by date and made up food parcels for individuals, couples and families. It's wonderful to see how generous people are and of course the supermarkets donate regularly as do churches, schools and other organisations. It's only a few hours a week but I really enjoy it. I walk there and back so that's 45 minutes brisk walking in total - more exercise for me which is always good! Here's what I wore today:

The jeans, t shirt and kimono are charity shopped. The boots are from a Tesco's outlet and cost £4.00. I recently took them to be re heeled and was told it would £10.00! I'll just have to throw them away when the heels have had it. I don't want to live in a throw away society but when it costs more to repair than to replace you're forced into it - damn...

The necklace was a present from my daughter and the earrings are from Sainsbury's (again!) bought when they were 25% off.

My other volunteering started 4 weeks ago and I'm really loving it. Half a day at 'Save the Children' charity shop in town. The first two weeks we were short staffed so I stayed  in the shop; helping customers, taking in donations and trying to sort them and being on the till. For the past two weeks I've been out the back sorting donations, labelling, pricing and sometimes putting out in the shop. Honestly, its like Christmas every time you open a bag or box - you just don't know what you're going to find!

I have to say my least favourite things are men's clothes. On the whole they are so boring and dull..... I'm also a bit shocked at the tat some people donate - leggings with no crotch anyone? No, I'm not talking about sexy clothing here! That reminds me that earlier in the year several 'cash for clothes' shops sprung up. You took unwanted clothing items in - well I didn't - weighed them and got cash for them. They've disappeared now. Did you have them in your area? Are they still there? All a bit of mystery..

Anyhow, of course I haven't been coming home empty handed. We don't get staff discount and volunteering here is not helping my clothes buying habit at all, but what's a girl to do with all these lovely bargains? So far, I've bought:

Wool (!)
Pack of notelets
Plastic cereal container
Handbag
Cardigan
Summer Palazzo pants (rescued from ragbag) for 50p
Brand new Robert Galbraith hardback book
Waistcoat ( featured here)

What will I get next week?

I'm off to link up with Patti's  Visbile Monday- at http://notdeadyetstyle.com/ 
I'm a bit late so I hope she doesn't mind!

£1.00 bargains and other stuff

I cannot resist clothes that have spots. I have this  black spotted top plus several others, 3 spotted shirts, a pair of  spotted palazzo pants and I've recently got rid of a spotted jacket that too was too tight. This top was one of the £1.00 items I bought last Saturday in Wellingborough, along with this black maxi skirt for a £1.00 and my red brothel creepers for £4.00.

I bought the waistcoat last Monday in Save the Children for £3.00. I started volunteering there on Monday mornings and last week was my third week.

Everything I'm wearing including my watch and bracelet are from charity shops.  The little rose pin I bought in the Christian charity shop for 5p earlier today and liked it so much I put it on straight away. The earrings are from Sainsbury's and bought when 50% off. Cheap, moi? Never!

It is clear to see that I have abandoned my no buying clothes until 2016 vow.....

Vintage coat (I think).

I have often dreamed of finding beautiful vintage clothing in the charity shops. I love clothes from the 30s, 40s and 50s. I was less keen on 60s and 70s fashions (having worn them first time around) but since reading fashion blogs and following some amazing bloggers, I have become more open minded regarding these decades. So, now I keep an eye open for vintage clothes whereas I never did before. I've never found anything from the 30s,  40s or 50s but I think I might have found a vintage velvet coat from the 70s. I bought this more than a year ago in a charity shop for £12.00, before I had read any fashion/style blogs and had not worn it until last Sunday night. 

This is me today wearing the coat with boots, I wore heels on Sunday night!

Last Sunday evening we went out for a birthday meal with my youngest and middle brothers; youngest brother was 58. We were going on from the meal to watch our oldest brother perform at the Derngate in Northampton. He plays with a band called Steeleye Span. You can see where they are touring in the UK here. After the performance - which was brilliant - we went backstage where my oldest brother admired my coat and asked me if it was vintage. I had to confess I didn't know and when I got home I looked at the labels.

The labels weren't in the usual place i.e. in the neck but on the left and the right at roughly at chest level. They don't look like modern clothes labels and the washing/dry cleaning instructions were sewn in along the  inside hem and did not use the symbols usually seen on wash/care labels, but had written instructions.

I went on the Vintage Fashion Guild website and found their label resource but no Bartson's or Tassa'nova. The words 'doublelure' are French for lining, as is 'futter' (German) and 'voering' (Dutch). Polyester was a material that became commercially available in the UK from 1955 and is referring to the lining. I looked up Diolen and found this on the VFG:  Diolen is a polyester based fibre, along similar lines to Kevlar which although not quite as strong in tensile strength as Kevlar, reasonably close in performance and considerably cheaper.  I'm not sure if Diolen is referring to the external material (which is like velvet) or the lining!

I googled Bartson's and came up with items for sale on ebay. One was a man's trench coat and another was a woman's raincoat but the label said something else. I found another woman's raincoat with the make Barston's, but no label was shown in the photo and it looked like a more recent coat. There is currently a company called Bartson's in Antwerp who make men and boys clothes but my coat is clearly a woman's coat. I then found a US trademark website which said that Bartson's was a US Federal Trademark registered in Antwerp in 1968 which expired in 2001. I found a Bartson Fabrics (note not Bartson's) which was established in 1917 in the US and from the 1940s imported and distributed fabrics to Europe and Asia.

My coat is a swing style coat which was fashionable in the 1960s (only we called them duster coats and they often had a matching dress) and in the 70s - I had a one when I was pregnant with my first child, so one could infer from the style and the sleeves (bell like), label etc that it is a coat from the 1970s and therefore vintage!!

What do you think? Any words of wisdom Vix, Curtise? Have I finally found and bought a vintage item?

Red and Turquoise!

Saturday was grey, damp. miserable and very cold. So, I decided to wear bright colours to dispel the wintry gloom. Red and turquoise are a lovely combination and the colours make me feel happy. Here I am wearing my red and turquoise Missoni type cardigan I got last week for £2.00 in a local Christian charity shop. My skinny jeans are from Primarni; the red camisole is from a charity shop, the red cross over top is from La Redoute in their sale earlier this year, red boots on line retailer, watch,  turquoise

necklace and bangle (which you can't see in this picture) all from charity shops.

These are the earrings I treated my self to when we went to Bath for my 50th birthday. I can't believe that was almost 12 years ago. I love this necklace - I think I paid 99p for it last year.

Don't look too closely - I've got lipstick on my teeth!

You can see the bangle in this one.

We went for a rummage around the charity shops in Wellingborough today and had a great time although it was icily cold. We visited 9 in total. I bought a red pair of, what I call, brothel creepers (the Americans call them beetle crushers - which is more polite!), these ones don't have such a thick sole as my black pair but they are such comfortable shoes. I've always wanted a pair  of brothel creepers and now I have two! These red ones cost £4.00 in an independent charity shop.

I bought this plate, cup and saucer for £1.00 in there too and these 2 sundae dishes/glasses in Extra Care for 79p each. One for each grandson - the two younger ones (10 and 5) have their own mugs and plates and now they'll have their own juice glass too!

I bough:t 3 tops (I long sleeved with black and white spots; I navy long sleeved top with puffed shoulders. and a blue short sleeved one with a design on the front) for a £1.00 each in Scope -  and a black maxi skirt for £1.00 as well.  I stuck to my £1.00 rule here but they weren't on the £1.00 rail but marked down for 'Black Friday'.  I bought 4 coffee glasses for my daughter in law for 1.99 and a pair of teal coloured tights for 99p in Extra Care. I also bought a book (a novel) but no wool!  I seem to keep buying books by authors with surnames starting with H and my H shelf is overflowing. Yes, I am so anally retentive I store my books, well the fiction, alphabetically!

My OH bought a jumper, a pair of work trousers, several books, a pair of gaiters (to protect trousers when walking) and a very useful packet of plastic bag clips. We did very well and treated ourselves to tea and cake - it also helped warm us up. Next time we might try Huntingdon (John Major's old constituency) - we haven't been there for years.

I'm going to head out now to link with Patti's Visible Monday at 'Not Dead Yet Style' here It's my first time and I'm feeling a little nervous....wish me luck!

Afterthoughts

Here I am trying to work out how to take a full length photo of myself. I know you need to focus the camera on the mirror but how do you hide yourself holding the camera? I know a lot of the professional bloggers use a tripod and a timer and some have people to photograph them. I have my other half and occasionally my older grandson or even my daughter in law but mostly it's down to me.....maybe I need a selfie stick? Who knows? I don't mind technology - it just takes me a while to catch up with it!

I took this photo yesterday evening having been to the hairdressers and got my eyebrows done. Everything I'm wearing is charity shopped (or as the Americans say 'thrifted'). The dress, the waistcoat, the earrings and my Zara leather boots, £12.00 in the Red Cross shop. I can't remember which charity shops I bought the dress and waistcoat in which is worrying as it was only about 6 weeks ago.....The heart pendant I bought from the summer Dorothy Perkins sale for 99p. It was in Bloomsbury in London and I'd gone to visit the Persephone Book shop in  Lamb's Conduit Street and visit my oldest brother. If you don't know about Persephone books they are amazing - here is their explanation of what they do:

 "Persephone Books reprints neglected fiction and non-fiction by mid-twentieth century (mostly) women writers. All of our 115 books are intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written and are chosen to appeal to busy people wanting titles that are neither too literary nor too commercial." 

I have a small collection:

Don't be deceived by the simple covers, they have the most beautiful endpapers and matching book marks; my two favourite authors published by Persephone so far are Dorothy Whipple and Monica Dickens.



I've put a few more on my Christmas wish list year and hope to swell my collection.....

I also collect the original green Virago books:

I do read them as well!  I started my collection back in the early 90s when I did an MA in Women's Studies and I am always on the lookout for them in the charity shops.

 Off on a major rummage tomorrow with my OH; I'm really looking forward to it but the weather is looking lousy. Oh well at least it's not going to snow!

Wednesday walking

I belong to the Ramblers UK. It's a national walking organisation and I walk with 2 of our local groups - Ivel Valley Walkers and sometimes I walk with the North Beds Ramblers who walk on Saturdays. If you're not familiar with the Ramblers you can find out more about them here Ramblers UK and find your local group. Once you join you can walk with any group. For example,  if I went to stay with my best friend in Devon and wanted to go walking I could link up with a local Ramblers group and walk with them. It's proper walking; waterproof gear, walking boots, maps and rucksacks. Everyone is very friendly and there's nothing nicer than getting out in the fresh air and seeing some of our lovely countryside. I highly recommend it.

I try to walk twice a week, usually on Wednesdays when the walks tend to be between 6 - 8 miles; sometimes on Thursdays when its called an 'amble' and is about 4.5 to 6 miles; or sometimes on Fridays which are bus walks and can be between 6 - 8 miles. The walks cover quite a wide area and if they're further than 20 miles away I don't usually go.  I do go out walking by myself and having recently completed a map reading course I like to take the map and find a route. Last Wednesday, I walked by myself for almost 4 hours; I didn't turn my walking app on (grrr!) but reckoned I did about 8 miles in total. My body certainly felt it as if it had.

Today's walk was 32 miles away so I didn't go.  However, I did go into town and looked at 2 charity shops amongst doing other things and walked almost 5 miles in total! I am going on the bus walk this Friday and my OH and I are going rummaging in Wellingborough on Saturday and will probably get a few miles in.

I'm afraid I did it again on my trip to town and bought more clothes...a Debenham's label  jacket for walking  for £2.00; a Missoni type long cardigan for £2.00, a knee length black velvet dress for £8.00 (I'm going to wear it on Christmas day), a brooch for £1.00, 3 books for £1.30 and a big pile of wool for £3.70. I've got to stop with the wool; I've run out of space to store it! I'll post pictures of the cardigan and dress when I wear them.

Today I was in neutrals mode; I wore brown leggings ( from M&S - retirement gift voucher), brown and grey tunic (charity shop), grey lightweight jacket (US on line retailer Sheinside), brownish animal print scarf (charity shop) and brown earrings (charity shop). I wore my long brown boots (Sainsburys) and also tried the outfit on with brown suede ankle boots (Christmas present from my OH) but the heel was too high for trekking around town for hours.

Long brown boots

With short brown boots

Do you like my curtains? They're from Laura Ashley and retail for £110.00 - I bought them in my local Marie Curie shop for £20.00........

I'm off to the hairdressers tomorrow - can't wait!

Thursday's finds

I went to a small town called Ampthill on Thursday to check out the charity shops. There used to be only 3 but I was delighted to see another one has opened since I last visited. I often get in the car and visit a nearby town to trawl the charity shops and usually visit places  within a radius of 20 miles. If we ever visit any other places farther away we always try and trawl the charity shops - luckily my OH loves charity shops too!

What did I get?

A brand new cashmere jumper from Tesco originally priced at 35.00 but priced at 6.99 in Age Concern (I rarely pay this much for charity shop finds but it is cashmere).

Three items for a £1.00, a multicoloured bracelet, silver brooch and another useful plastic container in the RSPCA shop. I haven;t bothered to take a photo of it because frankly it's boring!

A ball of wool for 50p from Mercy in Action - I always look for wool in charity shops. It's often quite cheap and have you seen the price of wool lately? When I took up crocheting again after a break of 35 years, I couldn't believe it! Again I haven't bothered with a photograph - you know what a ball of wool look likes don't you? I do have an addiction to wool and it's partly the reason why I keep crocheting throws - to get rid of the wool! Then I buy more and have to crochet a throw and on it goes. I will do a post at some point about my wool stash and show how it is taking over my study......

Three books for a £1.00 in the RSPCA,  you could get up to 8 but I only chose 3; one on London in WW2, a novel and one on allotments - we're just about to get an allotment, more on that later! I have, and always have had, an addiction to books. I love the look, feel and smell of them and love to be surrounded by books. I have books in every room of my house, except the bathroom. One day when I am old and immobile, I won't have to worry about not having anything to read; I've got my own ready made library at home.

An M&S asymmetric tunic 3.99  from Dr. Barnardo's - I'll wear it with a long sleeved top underneath or it could be worn with a long cardigan, I'll wear it over jeans or leggings.

2 berets from the same shop £.199 each - we're in for a cold winter this year so I'm getting prepared!


You can see that I've already broken my vow not to buy any more clothes........