Wall of sound

We started the first week of August with more than just a little trepidation. This, after all, would be the week that the wall between our and our neighbour's properties would be removed. Apart from any other inconveniences, we weren't exactly looking forward to the lack of privacy we'd have to contend with in our kitchen - which has a big window looking out on the passageway - and part of the garden for several days.

Peace and quiet still reigned when we set out on the morning of Monday 1st of August, which would turn out to be another muggy day, with highs of 26°C. 

Cool cottons to the rescue once more! If hot Summers will become our new normal, I guess I'll have to change the name of my blog!

Looking at the photos, I realize that only one item in my whole outfit is vintage (the brooch) and that, apart from the top from the Danish ICHI label, which I charity shopped two Summers ago, everything thing else was bought brand new. 

The necklace, with its colourfully painted wooden disks, came from Accessorize and has been in my collection for many years. The gold tone Gabor sandals were a sales bargain in the Summer of 2019, while I plucked the tiered skirt from a rail of reduced items at C&A while we were shopping for Jos earlier this year. The raffia belt, which has a black twin, was recently found on the high street.

At the office, I tried to bear it as long as I could without having to put on the air-conditioning, but brain melt left me no other option after lunch. It was a bit of a dismal day, particularly as I was on my own,  with only yours truly to moan to, as my colleague had the day off.

Meanwhile, Jos kept me up to date about next door's proceedings. Apparently, our neighbour and his uncle and cousins, who'd come all the way from Austria to help him out, had started clearing the endless piles of rubble from their garden in preparation for the impending building work. So far, so good.

Tuesday dawned sunny, but with quite a bit of wind, which somewhat tempered the 30°C indicated by the thermometer. It was still stiflingly hot, so I needed another one of my cotton frocks to keep me cool.

This bright blue flower and foliage sprinkled one was a gift from Vix back in 2019 which makes it extra special. And how serendipitous that she is wearing the skirt I gave her that same year in her latest post!

Creature of habit that I am, I always seem to pick orange to accessorize it with. I've lost count of the times I've worn this orange belt lately. It's super comfortable as apart from its front panel, it completely consists of a supple elastic. In spite of having its origins in a cheap fast fashion shop, it is still going strong after more than 10 years. The buckle is showing a bit of wear and tear, though, which is easily remedied by regular applications of a dab of orange nail polish!

My necklace and ring were both charity shopped and the brooch is vintage, found on a flea market.

With another Think Twice sales in full swing, I literally hotfooted it to my favourite branch for a browse, and ended up buying two dresses for € 5 each. 

You'll get to see one of the dresses in a minute, but let's have a look at the wall situation first!

As our kitchens were now facing each other unhindered and we were feeling quite exposed, we kept our shutters firmly closed, with only some chinks letting in the tiniest amount of daylight. Initially, our neighbour had promised to screen off the area to make things a bit more comfortable, but it never happened, not even after we'd reminded him a couple of times.

The mess in front and behind our compost bin are the sorry remains of the ivy and climbing Hydrangea which were growing up the wall. When we asked our neighbour to put these on his skip, he initially refused, telling us the skip was meant for building rubble only. However, he later did get rid of it after all. With council collection of garden waste as good as non-existent here, this saved us quite a bit of  hassle! And only rightly so, I think. 

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The temperature rocketed up to 32°C on Wednesday, so one of the dresses I'd found at Think Twice couldn't have been more perfect for keeping it -  relatively - cool.

Lightweight, sleeveless and with a solid white collar, this greyscale dress printed with black squiggles has an extra trick up its ... err ... sleeve in the form of a pair of deep pockets. It's so satisfying to shove one's hands into them when standing around doing nothing but having one's photo taken!

Its only minus point is its elasticated waist, but that was easy enough to hide under one of my belts.

There was no contest for red as an accent colour, which in addition to the belt, I used for my necklace, ring, cat brooch and another pair of sales bargain Gabor sandals.

No outfit photos were taken on Thursday, so I haven't got the slightest idea what I wore that day. 

My diary tells me the temperature dropped to 27°C, and that it rained both in the morning and again at night.

On our way home, we could hear heavy drilling and the high-pitched screeching sound made by a grinder when we were just half-way down our street. I'll give you three guesses where this terrible racket was coming from ... Obviously it was even worse once we were inside. While the concrete for the new wall's foundation was drying, our neighbour and his three stooges were completely stripping the downstairs rooms. This went on until about 8 pm, but only because we complained, as I'm sure it would have gone on for much longer if we hadn't. 

I had the day off on Friday, but at that point I can't say I was looking forward to the long weekend ahead. There was nothing for it but to make plans to flee the house as much as we could.

I watered the garden first thing, then, after our customary fruit & yoghurt breakfast, we slapped together a couple of sandwiches and were off for a day of rummaging, picnicking and sightseeing.

In between charity shops, we stopped off at one of the forts turned nature reserves surrounding the city of Antwerp, where we found a bench for our picnic. 

With the temperature down to 23°C, I could safely be a Polyester Princess again without breaking into a sweat. For some reason, this vintage frock, its pattern a patchwork of dotty squares in greens and yellows, hadn't been out of my wardrobe for a couple of years at the very least.

This one too has an elasticated waist, which I covered with one of my stretchy belts.

I love the dress's square necklace, although in the above photo I can see one of my bra straps wanting to make an escape. Oh well. 

I kept to greens and yellows for my accessories, and was carrying my current favourite weekend bag, a fast fashion find from the high street back in that age of innocence, Spring 2019.

Here's what I found in the charity shops that day: a silky Summer dress, a lightweight cover-up and a pair of mock croc ankle boots by Van Dal.

There was a short-sleeved shirt for Jos too, which you'll be getting to see in my next post, 

as well as a long-sleeved wrap dress, which I just realized I forgot to photograph.

With most of the afternoon still in front of us, we then continued to the charming little town of Lier. 

In spite of it being less than half an hour's drive from Dove Cottage, we do not visit it very often, unless it is for a social call, as Jos's younger daughter An lives in the town. In fact, we'd made arrangements to meet her later for a drink.

From the car park, there is no chance of missing one of the town's landmarks, the imposing St. Gummarus Church, and particularly its tower, which is popularly known as the "pepper pot".

From 1378 onwards, the former parish church was converted into this beautiful example of Brabant Gothic style. Construction took about 200 years, and influences of baroque and rococo are therefore visible. 

After passing the church and admiring its amusing gargoyles, we walked into the direction of the River Nete, which flows through the town. The striking building with its cheerful red and green shutters is called De Fortuin and was built in the 17th century. Over the centuries it has been used as a grain store, a coal depot, a lemonade factory, a cabinetmaker’s workshop, a town warehouse and a restaurant.

We've now arrived at the Zimmer Square, where the Zimmer Tower, with its captivating Jubilee Clock showing 13 different time indications, is taking pride of place. Both the square and the tower were named after the clock's creator, Louis Zimmer (1888-1970), who donated it to the town of Lier in honour of Belgium's 100th anniversary in 1930.

Too early for our rendez-vous with Jos's daughter, we then walked towards the beguinage for a stroll.

On the bottom left is the central part of the façade of  St. Margaret's Church, built in the 17th-18th century, and dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch, martyr and patron saint of the beguinage.

The beguinage itself has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.

It is a typical 13th century street beguinage with 11 narrow streets and 162 small houses. Most of the houses date from the 17th-18th century. The narrow passageway on the bottom right is called "Hemdsmouwken" (meaning "shirtsleeve") due to its shape, and it is only 98 centimeters wide at one end. It was originally meant as a fire-break to stop fire from spreading from one row of houses to another.

We were gasping for a drink by now and although there was still no sign of Jos's daughter, who had been detained, we made our way back to the square, where we enjoyed one of Belgium's excellent range of non-alcoholic beers. 

Isn't Jos looking splendid in his vintage shirt from Think Twice?

Jos's daughter arrived just in time for another drink and a chat. Then, as our parking ticket was about to expire, she walked us back to the car park where we arrived just in the nick of time.

On our way home, we made plans for next day's escape from the wall of sound - wall of noise would have been more apt here, but doesn't sound as nice -  which you'll read all about in my next post.