There was a distinctly musical flavour to the weekend as we watched two of the DVDs we'd bought from the Air Ambulance charity shop; Mamma Mia and the Spandau Ballet docudrama, Soul Boys of the Western World along with the brilliant Pet Shop Boys interview with Alan Yentob currently on the iPlayer.  Amazingly, we had a couple of dry days enabling Johnny the builder to finish repointing the brickwork and for us to finally to repot our houseplants, an outdoor task we'd had to postpone for a while. Only having three windows with sills and, due to the veritable forest in our garden, ou ..read more

Hello, lovely people. Here's what's been happening in my world since I last posted. On Wednesday, for a morning of charity shopping, I wore an All About Audrey block printed midi dress with my Rawhide coat, a vintage tooled leather belt (both charity shopped),  Clarks platform boots & my trusty plum fedora.  On Thursday, for swimming and a 'Spoons breakfast, it was a Dilli Grey cord maxi skirt, a Pink Lemons Indian block print cotton blouse and some second-hand Toast cowboy boots. At the baths I learnt that one of the regulars had died last week, within hours of us ..read more

Hailstorms, Baltic temperatures and galeforce wind aside, at least we're enjoying a little sporadic sunshine this week. With the weekend mostly being spent paperhanging (I can't really call it wallpapering as its the ceiling we're tackling) I've been dressed in dungarees for most of the time. It was quite exciting to slip on my Naked Generation dress (eBay, 2020) and a vintage suede jacket to pop to B&Q for more DIY supplies on Monday morning. I did wear the vintage tan leather boots I'd bought from the charity shop on Friday but they pinch my big toes so off to the Kinky Shed they go.&n ..read more

When I signed off on Tuesday we were off to celebrate Liz & Adrian's joint birthday and we did, with a trip to The Avion, Wetherspoon's Aldridge branch followed by a curry in Laboni. The boss surprised us with a huge chocolate and ice cream gateau...chin chin! The following day Liz and I caught the bus to Birmingham. Although I usually catch the train to Brum, the bus stop is a five minute walk from our front door and the X51 (the express service) takes just 25 minutes. We wandered through the very grand Great Western Arcade and had a drink in Coffee 200 Degrees on Colmore Row.  ..read more

  My blog title is ironic, it's absolutely rancid out there today but being the little ray of sunshine that I am I was singing The Levellers classic (HERE) at the top of my voice as we ascended the Hill of Doom in the torrential rain earlier. What a beautiful day (hey hey!), What a beautiful day, And nothing is impossible in my own powerful mind. Anyway, onto more positive stuff - clothes! On Sunday me and my evil twin wore a Pink City Prints dress (via Vinted) over a Dilli Grey maxi skirt along with a vintage tooled leather bag, a bag strap I bought in Rhodes and my trusty orange fedor ..read more

It's been a weird old week, having not only a Bank Holiday to contend with but the clocks going forward, too. I'm not only a day behind but I'm still befuddled by that lost hour - although I always set my alarm clock, it's very rare I'm in bed when it goes off, I've usually got up long before the bell rings. The weather's continued to be all over the place and today it's been so warm that I've walked round to the postbox in just a dress and sunnies. I bumped into a lovely blog reader on the way there. Hello, Amrit! In-between deluges I've managed to pop outside and photograph lots of sto ..read more

Whilst the temperatures haven't been up to much, it's all starting to look rather Spring-like in the garden. Even Jacob's come out of hibernation and is currently chomping his way through a lettuce mountain!  On Sunday morning, with a pile of recently finished paperbacks cluttering up the hall, Jon suggested a trip down to the clearance chazza to drop them off. I'd fallen for this woven linen maxi skirt when I spotted it in Zara's sale last year but they didn't have my size (although my friend Anne was lucky enough to snaffle one in hers!) so I was thrilled to spot it on Vinted.  ..read more

After travelling with a minimal wardrobe, I get such a thrill when I get home and have masses of clothes to play with. An enforced absence makes me love and appreciate my vast wardrobe even more than I already do. Here's what I've been wearing this week.... On Sunday evening, for a tea and a few beers in 'Spoons I wore my velvet dress from Kharibu with a vintage Kashmiri woolwork & cotton velvet waistcoat in an almost identical shade of moss green.  On Monday, for a day of chores, I wore a charity shopped B Young poet sleeved blouse with a 1970s cheesecloth maxi skirt by the s ..read more

With our flight home not until 5pm, we checked out of our apartment at 10am and decided to take a slow drive to the airport, stopping off anywhere which took our fancy along the way. We'd passed a sign for the Eco Museum just outside the village of Tefir the previous day but initially dismissed it, imagining an exhibition on recycling, crop rotation and wind power being a bit dull, but after looking it up online decided to head there first.  La Alcibiades Eco Museo is actually an ethnographic museum showcasing the various architectural styles of Fuerteventura, how the islanders had ..read more

Of all the beaches we visited, Majanicho was the strangest. Known the world over as Popcorn Beach, the white algae fossils which cover the shore bear an uncanny resemblance to the popular puffy snack.  Initially red in colour, these marine algae are called rhodoliths and turn white over time, the waves push them ashore giving them their unique shape.  Despite Popcorn Beach apparently being a big thing on Instagram we didn't have to dodge hoards of selfie takers when we combed the shore for sea glass and shells, the only nuisance was the weird electric blue jellyfish w ..read more