A bevy of bargains and a booster

It's been a whirlwind of a week, starting with a check-up appointment at the ophthalmologist, followed by a visit from my bosses and ending with a funeral. On top of that, Autumn has decided to stop dragging her feet. With a flick of the wrist, she has made her entrance, almost halving the summery temperatures we'd been enjoying without so much as a by-your-leave. And that's before mentioning the soul-sapping rain, relentless and neverending at times, but thankfully nothing compared to Storm Babet which has been battering parts of Northern Europe.

But my blog is running hopelessly behind and has only just reached the last week of September, which is why, incongruously as it might seem, I am still wearing my Summer frocks. 

The thermometer still refused to duck below the 20°C mark, which I made the most of by reaching for those dresses which were still rattling around, unworn, in my wardrobe.

This one's another charity shopped King Louie. I love its waffle fabric and its smattering of orangey red and off-white berries on a midnight blue background. I wore it on a weekday when the mercury would climb to a balmy 24°C.

Apart from my red Kiarflex shoes and blue perspex ring, all my accessories were of the white variety. Both the carved plastic necklace and the portrait of a lady brooch were found at various flea markets, while my pleated leather belt was a charity shop find.

But even if the weather gods had kept the fires burning, they seemed to be in a tiff about whether to treat us to sunshine, grey skies or showers, which is why we often had them all in one day.

The days were noticeably getting shorter too, with daybreak arriving a couple of minutes later each day.

Look at that army of dark indigo clouds, with the orange glow of the rising sun behind them. This was snapped at the garage complex on our way to work one morning. Our garage box, by the way, is located at the back of the creeper-clad building, which used to be the premises of a lemonade factory.

As Think Twice had started another one of their famous sales, when everything in the shop is gradually reduced day by day until  € 1 day is reached, I spent my lunch breaks visiting four out of the five Think Twice shops Antwerp is blessed with.

On Monday, € 6 day, I found these two treasures which, incidentally, are a perfect match. The skirt, in a patterned velvety fabric, shows every indication of having been handmade. The sage green blouse with its dotted and dashed burgundy and forest green stripes was made in Sweden and is from a label called ST Martinez, which I couldn't find anything about online. Not that I looked for very long ...

Nothing came home with me on Tuesday's foray a bit further afield and Wednesday's rummaging opportunities were scuppered by a hairdresser's appointment. 

By the time Thursday rolled along, everything was down to € 4. I met up with Inez for our weekly cappuccinos and catch-up at the T2 coffee corner, after which we went shopping like we did in the good old Pre-Covid days. We were both successful, as Inez managed to find a flapper style dress and a plaid skirt in shop # 1, while I pounced on this groovilicious pussy-bow blouse in shop # 2. 

I'm forever vowing to stop buying coats and jackets, but Inez insisted I try on, and subsequently buy this glorious double-breasted tailor-made textured wool jacket. Not that I needed much persuasion, as I fell hard for its Autumnal green and burnt orange colour scheme - the photos, taken inside on a dark day don't really do it justice - and just look at those gorgeous buttons!

Although I'm a bit stingy with the handful of days of annual leave Iv'e got left for this year, I'd decided to take Friday off that week. That must have peeved the weather gods, though, as the day was mostly cloudy, with just the odd sunny spell and a few scattered showers.

In fact, it felt quite Autumnal, even if at 22°C it was more than warm enough to wear this lightweight viscose dress, a bargain from the C&A Winter sales in 2017.

I picked up all the colours in the dress's William Morris style pattern, starting with white for my belt - the same one as in this post's first outfit - and vintage flower brooch. My mustard cardigan matches the pops of mustard in the pattern almost exactly, while pink was represented by my necklace as well as the cardigan's pink buttons. 

On my feet, the Mary-Jane style shoes I snapped up at Think Twice the other week. They are actually a much brighter shade of green which my camera appears to have a problem capturing. Here, they almost seem match the teal bits in the dress. 

The ring on the bottom left has pale green bits floating in transluscent glass and was picked up at Kruidvat, the Low Countries' equivalent of Superdrug!

After breakfast, Jos went and did his good deed for the day by walking into the village and picking up and delivering a newspaper for our elderly ex-neighbour.  Meanwhile, I bit the bullet and started the lengthy process of my biannual wardrobe swap-over by exchanging about one third of my Spring/Summer dresses for their  Autumn/Winter sisters.

Needless to say, I had help from Miss Bess!

Then Jos came back saying he’d been to the apothecary to enquire about making an appointment for his Covid booster jab. As luck would have it, it was one of their "jabbing days" and as there wasn't a queue, he was able to get it done straightaway. What’s more, they said I could come in too, if I was there before 12. I made a dash for it, but had to change into something more accessible first. I would have had to semi-undress if I'd kept wearing my C&A frock! Anyway, that’s both our booster jabs done!

Our plans for the afternoon consisted of a visit to the charity shop on the outskirts of Mechelen. However, we found our usual route interrupted by roadworks and couldn't make sense of the suggested diversions. As by that time it was raining torrentially, we decided to drive back home and make do with our local edge-of-town charity shop.

A fluffy orange cardigan and a funky pair of Zara trousers - which was hiding among the nightwear - ended up in my basket.

Saturday saw a return of the sun, even if the temperature dropped a couple of degrees to 20°C.

The Diolen dress I'm wearing had been patiently waiting its turn since I brought it home from Think Twice in July. I also gave my navy flapper-style shoes a final outing before packing them away until next year.

The rest of my accessories - apart from the blue and white striped perspex ring - were of the red variety: a charity shopped vinyl belt and beaded necklace, and one of my cat brooches from Katty's Katshop in Antwerp.

After lunch, we decided to have another go at reaching the charity shop in Mechelen, as the alternative route looked quite straightforward when I'd looked it up online. And guess what: we made it, without getting lost even once!

It was definitely worth the effort as finds were plentiful. First up, this vintage maxi skirt with its bold floral pattern. It's by Coronet Modell, which I believe is German. Again, trawling the Internet didn't have the desired result. 

Love at first sight for the silky polyester blouse with its striking yet mysterious white pattern on a black background. Its label says Femina, and apparently it was sold in a boutique in Graz, Austria.

I ummed and ahed over this handmade vintage skirt, but in the end I simply found its naive picket fence and flower print irresistible.

En route à la maison, we stopped at the tiny charity shop in the neighbouring village of Reet.

Here, the clothing rails were full to bursting and even contained one or two very covetable vintage pieces, which sadly enough were far too small. 

Not vintage, but from the sustainable Belgian Froy & Dind label, is the cobalt blue wrap dress with patterned blue, red and white hem, on the left. The floral tea dress on the right is by Monsoon, the very first item from that label I've ever come across in a Belgian charity shop. Both were mine for a snippet of the original retail price.

Phew, that's September all wrapped up, sot that I can finally start blogging about October in my next post. We might even have squeezed in the odd walk.

See you again soon!