In search of lost time

Time has once again been slipping through my fingers and my mind is reeling from the fact that almost a month has gone by since the events I'm writing about in this post. But here I am, having a lunch break coffee and catch-up with my friend Inez on Wednesday the 20th of September.

This is the coffee corner in Antwerp's latest and largest Think Twice shop, which opened its doors back in January and which, being only a couple of minutes' walk from my office, is our go-to place for meeting up, perhaps followed by a quick rummage if time allows. You can see the rails of clothes in the background of the photo on the top left and the shop's till on the far left of the one on the bottom right. 

I was wearing green and lilac that day, topped with my orange leather jacket which is draped over the back of my chair. Both the fruit patterned frock and the jacket were Think Twice finds once upon a time. 

My lilac cardigan was charity shopped and I needed both it and the lilac cat printed scarf I got from my friend Inneke to combat the draught which drifted in from the open door. I would be surprised if the temperature reached the forecasted 22°C that day, as it felt quite Autumnal, with an impenetrable layer of grey clouds and lots of wind.

But I was wearing a big smile as that week I'd finally taken the first steps towards officially working only a 4-day week! There's a system here in Belgium where, from age 60 onwards, one has the opportunity to opt for a so-called landingsbaan (landing job) with 1/5 time credit until retirement and with an additional allowance from the government. I already got the necessary permission from my boss and all that needs to be done now is fill in a sheaf of documents and send them off to the authorities. After the official period of six months I will automatically have my Fridays off without having to use up my holiday allowance. Can't wait for the 1st of April to come around! 

Until then, I'll have to grit my teeth and alternately work 5-day weeks and take up some of my precious - and seriously dwindling - time off. Which is exactly what I did on Friday the 22nd of September.

At barely 17°C, it was decidedly chilly, the upside being that it remained mostly dry until late in the afternoon. Long sleeves, layers and ankle boots to the rescue!

After a morning of pottering, our usual Friday rummage at the charity shops was on the menu. In order to get into the charity shop goddesses' good books, my outfit mainly consisted of charity shopped items.

Both the skirt - which is Essentiel Antwerp! - and the label-less pink floral blouse were found earlier this year, while the holy grail green suede Van Dalen ankle boots were snapped up in February 2021.

The pink beaded necklace was yet another charity shop find, even if I can't remember where or when. In fact, only the pink belt and the green heart brooch are the odd ones out here. Both were retail buys, the brooch doubling as a holiday souvenir as it was bought in Cardigan in June 2017.

The day's itinerary took us the charity shops in Mortsel and Lier, and while finds weren't exactly plentiful, they were enough to sate our rummaging urges.

First up is this gorgeous red cotton jumper patterned with blue and white triangles and rectangles. It's by Nathalie Vleeschouwer - a Belgian designer with Antwerp roots - and had apparently escaped the shop personnel's notice, as it was priced at the usual € 5,90 for jumpers. It would have retailed at around € 150.

A green Summer blazer by the - yet again Belgian - Green Ice label ended up in my basket as well. I love the charm details on one of the lapels. It's going to be a nice surprise unearthing this next Spring!

With the range of available non-alcoholic beers growing steadily, we are always on the lookout for the correct glasses the serve them in. After sampling the non-alcoholic version of Chouffe at Jos's son and daughter-in-law back in July, the beer has slowly but surely become a favourite. Brewed at the Achouffe Brewery in the Province of Luxemburg in Wallonia, Belgium's French speaking region, the beer's mascot is a gnome called Marcel. 

After fruitlessly searching for the typical glasses featuring the gnome, Jos finally found not just one, but two of the elusive glasses!

Back at home, I caught up with blogland and published a blog post. Then, after dinner, we watched an episode of the Belgian version of Celebrity MasterChef we'd recorded earlier that week.

Although we were treated to the odd sunny spell on Saturday, the mercury didn't climb higher than 18°C that day. 

The ideal conditions for wearing my Nathalie Vleeschouwer jumper! I even found it its perfect partner in a geometrically patterned circle skirt, charity shopped in December 2019. The skirt is somebody's quirky handiwork, with a visible red side zipper and featuring random felt circles and patches of visible stitching. 

A blue beaded necklace, early plastic white and grey swallow brooch, blue glass ring and red Camper shoes completed my outfit: all second-hand finds except for the ring.

We went around to Jos's son and daughter-in-law, Kris and Carolien, in the morning, mainly to see grandson Cas, whom we hadn't seen for far too long. Oh my, how he has grown! Hard to believe he'll be going to preschool in January!

Then, after lunch, we drove to the three-story charity shop in Duffel, where we hadn’t been since god knows when due to extensive roadworks making the shop nearly impossible to reach. Following the instructions on their Facebook page, we finally made it there, getting lost only the once!

Being a Saturday, it was reasonably busy, so I made a quick round of the rails. This burgundy King Louie shirt dress sprinkled with tiny teal and white flowers was a no-brainer. It came with a tie belt, but obviously I'll be wearing it with a contrasting belt from my stash.

Drawing the curtains on Sunday morning, we were greeted by a gorgeous Autumn day. The sun would be shining non-stop and, at 20°C the weather couldn't have been more perfect for our plans that morning. We were meeting up with Inneke and Maurice for a stroll in our favourite park, Middelheim.

We'd agreed to meet at 10.30 but were caught up in traffic due to a funfair taking place in our village. Then we spent a silly amount of time finding a parking spot as cricket championships were being held on the cricket ground near the park. So, we were several minutes late when we walked past Misconceivable (2010), the crooked boat created by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm.

Inneke and Maurice were waiting for us in a sunny spot near one of the sculpture park's most popular works, Polar Bear by the French artist François Pompon (1855-1933), who started out working as an assistant for Rodin among others. This work marked François Pompon’s first success at the 1922 Salon d’Automne in Paris. Middelheim Museum owns the third copy, while the original is in Musée d’Orsay in Paris. 

The little snail seemed to have taken a liking to it, and the feeling might very well have been mutual, as the bear seemed to glad to be wearing it like a brooch!

We went for a short stroll, noting that the park was still in some disarray due to the ongoing reshuffle. In fact, I've just read on their website that some parts of the park are temporarily closed due to major earthworks.

Our feet, all of which seemed to be in agreement, took us firmly to one of our favourite parts of the park: the open air depot, where sculptures who once used to grace Antwerp's public spaces are enjoying their retirement. Or are they?

During the reshuffle, these open air depot habitués are joined by works of art which have been temporarily moved here from their former locations in the park.

Among them some of my all-time favourites, like Running Girl (above, bottom centre). Dating from 1976, her creator was the Czech sculptor Kurt Gebauer (b. 1941).

And then there's the quite menacing Manifestanti (Demonstrators), dating from 1957, and by the Slovenian sculptor Drago Tršar, who passed away in April shortly before his 96th birthday.

The rather timid Ursula (1965), with her sensible overcoat and time-worn handbag, seems to be quite unperturbed by it all. She was born from the imagination of the Spanish sculptor Julio L. Hernandez (1930-2018).

We finished our stroll with a drink at the museum café - cappuccinos and apple and pear cake for Jos and me - after which we said goodbye to Inneke and Maurice. 

Then we returned to our car in a roundabout way, having a peek through the windows of the Braem Pavillion, which regularly hosts exhibitions but was now unfortunately closed.

Immediately opposite the pavillion, the colourful group of sculptures called Bosque Metalica (Wood of Metal) has found its new place in the park. Consisting of eight separate elements in black, green, orange and yellow, the sculptures are by Jorge Dubon (Mexico), who created them in 1971.

I added more colour with my Diolen dress in a glorious mix of Autumnal colours to which I pinned an orange metal flower brooch which was gifted to me by the lovely Kezzie when we met up with her and her husband in Bruges back in February.

Both my orange cardigan from retro label Zoë Loveborn and my sage green Mephisto boots were charity shop finds.

I've got a busy week ahead of me, with a visit from the bosses, but I'll do my best to catch up with your lovely blogs whenever I've got a moment. See you soon!